Hundreds of flights delayed or cancelled as Iran responds to US strikes
Countries in the Persian Gulf closed their airspace on Saturday after Iran targeted US bases across the peninsula in retaliation for strikes on Tehran earlier in the day.
Airlines worldwide quickly began making adjustments as airspace across the Middle East started closing down.
The flight tracking website FlightAware said more than 9,600 flights had been delayed globally and more than 500 cancelled worldwide, many of them in the Mideast regioin, as of 1030 GMT on Saturday.
The Qatari civil aviation authority said the airspace over the country has been temporarily closed, effectively halting operations of Qatar Airways, one of the biggest international carriers.
The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, which were also among the countries targeted by Tehran, also closed their airspaces. The majority of airlines have cancelled flights to the Gulf, including hubs like Dubai, home to Emirates, and carriers in India have also cut back their services.
Jordan said its air force was conducting drills to “defend the kingdom’s skies”, later adding that it shot down two ballistic missiles.
Kuwait closed its airspace, with its military later saying it had “engaged incoming missiles”.
The expanding armed conflict in one of the world’s busiest air-traffic regions risks upending flight patterns for some of the world’s biggest international airlines.
The Middle East sits at the crossroads of an important flight artery connecting east-west traffic, and countries including Iraq and Bahrain closed their airspace after Israel and the US launched their campaign on Saturday.
Among the carriers that have suspended flights into the region are Turkish Airlines, Deutsche Lufthansa and India’s main carriers, including Indigo and Air India. Some carriers were forced to abort flights midair, including an Emirates A380 superjumbo that was en route to San Francisco and turned back to its Dubai base.
British Aiways said it has taken “the operational decision to cancel our flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain up to and including 03 March” and also cancelled a flight to Amman in Jordan.
Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, said regional airspace closures have caused disruption to several flights.
Israel’s ministry of transport said the country closed its airspace and asked citizens to stay away from airports. The Iranian government also shut down its airspace following the attacks.
An Iranian strike on the largest US military base in the region last year also forced Qatar and surrounding countries to close down their airspace, creating havoc for international airlines. Tens of thousands of passengers in the region were stranded, throwing operations at Doha airport into chaos.
The skies over large swaths of the Middle East have been restricted several times during the past two years. Airlines have been forced to cancel flights on profitable routes, spend more on jet fuel and pass through countries they usually avoid — like Afghanistan — as they avoid dangerous airspace.
The EU aviation safety agency EASA recommended on Saturday that air operators avoid operating at all flight levels and altitudes in the region of ongoing military intervention in the Middle East.
In a safety advisory note, EASA said there was a high risk to civil aviation in the region and that the entire affected airspace was vulnerable to spillover risks, misidentification, miscalculation and failure of interception procedures.
Russia’s air transport authority Rosaviatsia said it was cancelling all commercial flights to both Israel and Iran in the wake of the strikes “until further notice”.
Turkish Airlines on Saturday suspended flights to 10 Mideast nations. Air France cancelled its Tel Aviv and Beirut flights, saying it would provide schedule updates later.
