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Faced with airspace closures following Iran’s first direct attack from mainland Israel, airlines are considering increasingly limited flight options between Europe and Asia.
Several countries in the Middle East, including Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, temporarily closed their airspace after Iran launched drones and missiles. Israel and Iran have also imposed restrictions that extend beyond their own flight operations.
Many airlines are rerouting or avoiding trouble spots in a series of decisions that extend flight times and increase fuel costs. They include Qantas Airways Ltd., Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Deutsche Lufthansa Ltd.
Qatar Airways and Emirates resumed some of their suspended Middle East routes on Sunday as airspace reopened.
Iranian airspace is heavily used by airlines traveling between Europe and India or Southeast Asia. Airspace across the Middle East is littered with risks and complexities. Airlines have been grappling with a series of challenges since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cut off access for many airlines and forced lengthy diversions to date.
In the early days of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, airlines faced numerous disruptions, primarily in Tel Aviv, with flights to and from the country being canceled.
Israel closed its airspace to domestic and international flights on Saturday and resumed flights on Sunday morning. Lebanon and Iraq have also resumed flights over their territory.
The diversion comes as Israel and its U.S.-led allies fend off Iran’s response to the April 1 attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria, which is believed to have been carried out by Israel and killed a senior military official. Iran announced on Saturday that its military had seized an Israeli-linked container ship near the Strait of Hormuz.
A few days earlier, Lufthansa Group suspended flights to several cities in the Middle East. The group, which includes Germany’s flag carrier Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines and SWISS, announced on Sunday that flights to Tel Aviv, Erbil, Iraq and Amman would resume on Tuesday, but flights to Beirut and Tehran would be suspended. It was announced that it would continue to be suspended. At least on April 18th.
Qantas had temporarily adjusted its direct flights from Perth to London to stop in Singapore to account for the additional fuel required to reroute around unstable areas.
Singapore Airlines said its flights did not pass through Iranian airspace. Cathay Pacific is closely monitoring the situation in the Middle East, but its operations are business as usual, a spokesperson said in a text message on Sunday.
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