Some people scheduled to attend Mobile World Congress were blocked by travel delays
Airlines canceled flights out of the Middle East, and disruption extended beyond that region
While disruptive, the effects in Barcelona were small compared with the loss of life and destruction caused by war
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2026, BARCELONA – Echoes of war were all around Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, in the absence of people who weren’t at the show that should have been there.
The first many shocked attendees heard of the Iran conflict was when they switched their phones off airplane mode after landing in Barcelona Saturday. Others who were supposed to be in sunny Spain for a cheery AI-forward conference instead got snared by the massive travel problems caused by the conflict.
Nokia cancelled a meeting between Nabil Lahyani Hamidi, who heads up Nokia’s CNS’s AI and Analytics portfolio, and Fierce on Monday, blaming “global events over the weekend.” The Finnish vendor said that Nabil was unfortunately unable to get out of Dubai. He was far from the only one — Dubai International Airport was struck by Iran during retaliatory attacks on the UAE.
Airlines cancelled most flights out of the Middle East as Iran struck all countries in the region over the weekend that had U.S. military bases on their soil.
Traffic reportedly snarled beyond the Middle East; Fierce heard of at least one Gartner analyst flying out of Singapore who couldn’t get a flight out.
And Middle Eastern airlines cancelled all their flights out of New Delhi in India, Tejas Network's Chief Strategy and Business Officer Sanjay Malik told Fierce. He only got to the show because he was flying a European airline.
But travel problems didn’t cause serious decline in the numbers at the show. It is still pretty busy. There was, however, noticeably less of a human crush around popular events on the show floor Monday, compared with previous years.
“Perhaps it will perk up tomorrow,” Firecell CEO Claude Seyrat said to Fierce on the show floor.
Read all of our coverage from Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona here.