Airlines keep avoiding Middle East airspace after US attack on Iran
Days before the US strikes on Iran, American Airlines suspended flights to Qatar, and United Airlines did the same with flights to Dubai. (Wikimedia Commons pic)
JERUSALEM : Airlines continued to avoid large parts of the Middle East today after US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, with traffic already skirting airspace in the region due to recent missile exchanges.
'Following US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, commercial traffic in the region is operating as it has since new airspace restrictions were put into place last week,' FlightRadar24 said on social media platform X.
Its website showed airlines were not flying in the airspace over Iran, Iraq, Syria and Israel. They have chosen other routings such as north via the Caspian Sea or south via Egypt and Saudi Arabia, even if it results in higher fuel and crew costs and longer flight times.
Missile and drone barrages in an expanding number of conflict zones globally represent a high risk to airline traffic.
Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organisation that shares flight risk information, said today that the US attacks on Iran may increase risks to US operators in the region.
'While there have been no specific threats made against civil aviation, Iran has previously warned it would retaliate by attacking US military interests in the Middle East – either directly or via proxies such as Hezbollah,' Safe Airspace said.
Since Israel launched strikes on Iran on June 13, carriers have suspended flights to destinations in the affected countries, though there have been some evacuation flights from neighbouring nations and some bringing stranded Israelis home.
In the days before the US strikes on Iran, American Airlines suspended flights to Qatar, and United Airlines did the same with flights to Dubai.
Safe Airspace said it was possible airspace risks could now extend to countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
'We continue to advise a high degree of caution at this time,' it said.
Israel's largest carriers, El Al Israel Airlines, Arkia and Israir, said today they were suspending rescue flights that allowed people to return to Israel until further notice. El Al said it would also extend its cancellation of scheduled flights through June 27.
Israel's airports authority said the country's airspace was closed for all flights, but land crossings with Egypt and Jordan remained open.
Tens of thousands of Israelis and others who had booked tickets to Israel are stuck abroad.
At the same time, nearly 40,000 tourists in Israel are looking to leave the country, some of whom are going via Jordan's borders to Amman and others by boat to Cyprus.
The tourism ministry is trying to facilitate getting these people out.
Japan's foreign ministry said today it had evacuated 21 people, including 16 Japanese nationals, from Iran overland to Azerbaijan. It said it was the second such evacuation since Thursday and that it would conduct further evacuations if necessary.
New Zealand's government said today it would send a Hercules military transport plane to the Middle East on standby to evacuate New Zealanders from the region.
It said in a statement that government personnel and a C-130J Hercules aircraft would leave Auckland on Monday. The plane would take some days to reach the region, it said.
The government was also in talks with commercial airlines to assess how they may be able to assist, it added.
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