India, March 3 -- What was meant to be a routine business trip from Delhi to New York turned into a day of uncertainty for an Indian entrepreneur after escalating tensions in the Middle East disrupted air travel across the Gulf.

Sanjay Varnwal, CEO and co-founder of Spyne, found himself stranded in Kuwait after his connecting flight to New York was forced to turn back mid-air due to sudden airspace closures amid the US-Iran conflict.

In a detailed post on LinkedIn, Varnwal wrote that he had taken a 3am flight from Delhi to Kuwait and was waiting to board his 9am flight to JFK. "Everything felt completely normal when our flight took off from Kuwait at 8:45 AM on February 28th. I was just settling in, reading a book, totally unknown to wh...