Aussies rethink their European summer following recent conflict in the Middle East
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, international travel by Australians has surged beyond pre-Covid levels, with more than 2.5 million people heading overseas between June and August 2023.
Many of those travellers use the trip as an opportunity to stop over and explore the Middle Eastern cities of Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi on their way to bask in a European summer.
But many are now rethinking their travel plans and wondering if it is safe to visit the region with recent conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Iran.
The situation escalated then de-escalated this week when Iran launched an attack on US' Al Died Airbase in Qatar on Monday night, following US strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities days earlier.
Air traffic movement was suspended in Qatar, resulting in planes travelling between Europe and Australia diverted to other countries or turned around while the airspace was closed.
Two flights from Sydney operated by Qatar Airways on the way to Doha were diverted to Oman and India.
Qantas flights were also impacted by the closures - one flight from Perth to London was diverted to Singapore and another flight from Perth to France returned to West Australia.
Singapore Airlines also cancelled four flights from Singapore to Dubai.
Flight Centre chief executive Graham Turner said their call centre was inundated with inquiries from travellers wanting to rebook their European holiday through Asia rather than travel through the Middle East.
He said the problem for travellers reconsidering travel plans, that it was peak season and there was not a lot of availability to change bookings.
'We've had a reasonable number of requests for that,' he said.
'The three major carriers Qatar, Emirates and Etihad really didn't have any significant disruption so things are going ahead pretty much as normal.'
Mr Turner said there was a lot more activity from concerned travellers.
'Our numbers are telling us there's been no significant increase in cancellations but our call centres are handling lots of calls,' he said.
'With the disruption our travel agents had to change people's arrangements to some extent.
'But generally (there's been) no major cancellations and nothing more than normal.'
Mr Turner said while some Qatar flights were grounded during the week, services resumed on Tuesday and were expected to be back to normal by Thursday.
'Obviously it had an impact, and our main thing now is that nothing more happens between Israel and Iran,' he said.
'Things look positive at the moment and I would be perfectly happy to fly to London or Europe with Qatar.
'We just have our fingers crossed that peace has broken out for a while.'
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