Two long-haul passenger jets trying to outrun the fallout from U.S. strikes on Iran ended up right back on their home runways after nearly 16 hours in the sky. As most Gulf countries closed their airspace, commercial aviation was thrown into disarray after President Donald Trump launched his double-team strikes with Israel over the weekend. American Airlines Flight 120 departed Philadelphia around 8 p.m. bound for Doha, Qatar, on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Scheduled for a roughly 12-hour journey, it crossed the Atlantic and reached the Mediterranean Sea before making a U-turn off the coast of Spain. The aircraft landed back in Philadelphia 15 hours and 32 minutes after takeoff, according to Flightradar24. The flight was canceled over the next three days as Qatari airspace remained closed. Across the globe, an Emirates Airbus A380 left Auckland, New Zealand, expecting a 16-hour trip to Dubai. Eight hours in, the double-decker jet reversed course over Australia and the Tasman Sea, returning after 15 hours and 37 minutes aloft. Qatar Airways, Emirates, and Etihad collectively carry 90,000 transiting passengers daily through their hubs, according to Cirium. Airline stocks fell sharply as a result of the fighting in the Middle East.
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