Rising tensions in the Middle East have created air travel chaos.
According to FlightRadar24 data, global airlines were diverting or cancelling flights on Wednesday and regional airports, including Lebanon, Israel and Kuwait, showed long delays.
Impact On Shares In The Travel And Airline Sectors
Concern over air travel disruption also knocked shares in the travel and airline sectors.
Shares in Europe’s largest travel operator TUI fell nearly 5% on the day and Lufthansa were down 4.4%.
“At the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Gaza conflict last year there was a weakening of demand for travel across the board in Europe, which eased after a couple of weeks,” said Andrew Lobbenberg, an analyst at Barclay.
Missile Attack
Iran launched its largest missile attack against Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel’s campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
On Wednesday afternoon, flights were spotted over Iranian airspace, according to a FlightRadar24 map.
These included flights from carrier flydubai and Wizz Air, after Iran said its ballistic missile attack on Israel was over.
However, flights across the entire region were diverted or disrupted with little sign of broader normalisation.
Change In Flight Routes
Some flight routes have been changed to avoid certain airspace.
As a result, air travel is causing inconvenience to passengers.
“All planes – mainly flights to India – are avoiding Iranian airspace until further notice,” said a spokesperson for Polish flag carrier LOT.
Information Bulletin
Europe’s aviation safety regulator EASA issued a conflict zone information bulletin on Wednesday.
It advised airlines to avoid Iranian airspace “at all flight levels” as worries over retaliatory attacks from Israel targeting Iran rose.
It had earlier issued two similar bulletins in September end advising airlines not to use Israeli or Lebanese airspace.
Cancellation Of Flights
Carriers around the world have cancelled flights to Israel and Lebanon in the wake of the escalating conflict.
Air travel continues to be uncertain as many carriers won’t resume until at least mid-October.
Security situation
A lot would however depend on the security situation.
Both British Airways and Air France-KLM said their flight cancellations to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport remained in place until at least early next week, including the October 7 one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel.
Impact On Airports
Traffic over the Istanbul, Cairo and Antalya hubs remained dense as flights continued to avoid parts of Middle Eastern airspace.
Flights Delayed And Cancelled
In addition, all the flights departing Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport were delayed.
According to the airline tracker, 56% of flights set to depart Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv were cancelled.
At Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan, around 38% of arriving flights were cancelled.
Latest Disruptions
The latest disruptions are expected to deal a further blow to an industry already facing a host of restrictions due to conflicts between Israel and Hamas, and Russia and Ukraine.
