Britons flying abroad on long-distance routes were today warned of disruption as airlines rerouted or cancelled services after Iran‘s unprecedented attack on Israel.
Iran’s missile and drone assault on Israel has caused ‘chaos’ in the aviation industry after further narrowing options for planes navigating between Europe and Asia.
More than ten airlines have had to cancel or reroute flights over the last two days, including easyJet, Qantas, KLM, Lufthansa, WizzAir, United Airlines and Air India.
Experts claimed this made it the biggest single disruption to air travel since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001.
German airline Lufthansa has suspended its flights to and from Iran, while others including Australia’s Qantas and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) have rerouted planes to avoid Iran’s airspace. EasyJet and WizzAir have also cancelled flights to Tel Aviv.
Mark Zee, founder of Ops Group, which monitors airspace and airports, said: ‘Not since (9/11) have we had a situation with that many different air spaces closed down in that quick succession, and that creates chaos.’
He added that disruption was likely to last a few more days – with the latest routing problems a blow to an industry already facing a host of restrictions due to conflicts between Israel and Hamas, and Russia and Ukraine.
Iran’s airspace is used by airlines travelling between Europe and Asia and those carriers will be restricted to two viable alternative routes, either through Turkey or via Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Mr Zee said.
German airline Lufthansa has suspended its flights to and from Iran, while others including Australian airline Qantas rerouted planes to avoid Iran’s airspace.
This meant it had to temporarily reroute the popular direct flight between Perth and London, meaning it will instead have to land in Singapore en route to Britain.
A Qantas spokesperson said: ‘We’re temporarily adjusting the flight paths for our flights between Perth and London due to the situation in parts of the Middle East.
‘We’ll reach out to customers directly if there’s any change to their booking.’
Qantas said no flights between Perth, the capital of Western Australia state, and London had been paused or cancelled, but that flights on the route were operating on the adjusted flight path via Singapore.
The Sydney-based airline’s other flights to and from London remained unchanged as they take different flight paths.
Lufthansa suspended its regular flights to and from Tel Aviv, Erbil and Amman up to and including today. Flights to Beirut and Tehran will remain suspended until at least Thursday.
KLM cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv until tomorrow, a spokesperson for the Dutch arm of Air France KLM said today.
EasyJet has paused operations to and from Tel Aviv without providing a timeframe, while WizzAir said it had cancelled most of its flights to and from Tel Aviv on Saturday through until today.
Finnair suspended operations in Iranian airspace until further notice, which may cause longer flight times on flights from Doha.
A spokesperson said the Finnish carrier will reroute over Egypt, resulting in delays of a ‘few minutes’.
Meanwhile an SAS spokesperson said flights between Copenhagen and Bangkok fly partially over the region, and one flight had to reroute on the night between Saturday and yesterday.
IAG-owned Iberia Express said it would cancel flights to Tel Aviv yesterday and today.
United Airlines cancelled yesterday’s planned flight from Newark to Tel Aviv.
Air Canada warned of long delays and cancellations on its Israel flights, and cancelled flights to Tel Aviv today and tomorrow.
China Southern Airlines cancelled yesterday’s flight to Iran, and Hainan Airlines said it is monitoring the situation and evaluating whether an upcoming flight to Israel can fly normally, Chinese business outlet Yicai reported.
Air India decided to temporarily halt flights to Tel Aviv. Meanwhile Israel’s El Al Airlines cancelled 15 flights scheduled for Saturday and yesterday.
Smaller Israeli carrier Arkia said it was making adjustments to its flight schedule after initially postponing flights to Athens, Milan and Geneva.
Some Fly Dubai flights were affected by the closure of airspaces, a statement from the Emirati airway was quoted as saying on state news agency WAM.
Etihad Airways cancelled services to Tel Aviv, Israel And Amman, Jordan yesterday, but said it planned to operate scheduled passenger and cargo services between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv, Amman and Beirut from today.
It also warned ‘there may still be a risk of some knock-on disruption’ today.
Emirates Airlines resumed scheduled operations to and from Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq from yesterday afternoon, a spokesperson said. Qatar Airways also resumed services to Amman, Beirut and Baghdad.
British Airways is not thought to have been impacted because it was already avoiding Iranian airspace, and has not run any flights to Tehran in 2018.
Israel closed its airspace on Saturday, before reopening it yesterday morning.
The attack also prompted several countries in the Middle East including Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq to close their airspace overnight from Saturday to yesterday, but all have reopened.
Major Middle East airlines, including Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, said yesterday they would resume operation in the region after cancelling or rerouting some flights.
Independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie said it was not yet clear if the latest unrest would impact passenger demand, which has remained robust despite ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
He added: ‘If the political situation and the conflicts continue to escalate then at some point people will be concerned about travelling, but so far that hasn’t happened.’
Airports in Tehran and elsewhere in Iran also resumed operations today following the temporary suspension, according to the country’s state media.
Flights were suspended late on Saturday, but the official IRNA news agency reported that ‘flights at Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran were back to normal’ as of 6am local time (3.30am UK time).
IRNA said the domestic Mehrabad airport in Tehran and others across the country including Tabriz in the north-west, Mashhad in the north-east and Shiraz in the south were all now ‘operating as scheduled’.
It comes as Lord David Cameron today urged Israel to be ‘smart as well as tough’ by not escalating the conflict with Iran.
Israel should recognise Tehran’s attack on the weekend as an ‘almost total failure’ and ‘think with head as well as heart’ in its response, the Foreign Secretary said.
He confirmed that British RAF jets shot down ‘a small number’ of drones fired by Iran in what was its first direct military assault on Israeli soil.
The unprecedented attack by Iran, which it said was in retaliation against a strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria earlier this month, has raised fears over the Israel-Hamas war spiralling into a wider regional conflagration.
Speaking ahead of a Commons statement by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the matter, Lord Cameron today echoed US President Joe Biden’s comment that Israel should view the successful defence against around 350 drones and missiles launched by Iran as a victory.
An Israeli offensive in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack that claimed the lives of 1,200 people, has caused widespread devastation and killed more than 33,000 Palestinians.
Leaders of the G7 yesterday warned an ‘uncontrollable regional escalation’ in the Middle East must be prevented and said they ‘stand ready to take further measures now and in response to further destabilising initiatives’.
All eyes will be on the response from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, with countries in the region and elsewhere urging restraint to avoid intensifying the conflict.
