As military conflicts in the Middle East continue to escalate, airline operations dealt with a new upheaval on June 23rd – many airlines are cancelling or re-routing flights.
In response to a US attack on several major nuclear sites in Iran a day ago, several Middle Eastern countries suddenly closed their airspace after an Iranian attack on US military bases in Qatar. The move has disrupted operations in several major Middle Eastern hubs, including Doha and Dubai.
Qatar temporarily closed its airspace after the attack and forced domestic airline Qatar Airways to halt all operations in the second half of June 23. Media reports suggest that more than 20 Doha-bound Qatar Airways flights have been diverted amid short airspace closures.
A few hours later, the OneWorld carrier, which operates most of passenger traffic at Doha's Hamad International Airport, confirmed it was recovering flights after the country's airspace reopened.
“We expect flight schedules to be significantly delayed once operations resume,” Carrier adds.
In Dubai, main operator Emirates confirmed that the flight was rerouted on June 23, but there was no detour.
“After a thorough and careful risk assessment, Emirates will continue to operate the flight as planned, using a distanced flight route from the conflict area,” the carrier said.
Meanwhile, his fellow countryman Etihad Airlines cancelled several flights to other Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, citing “confusion” over its services. The Abu Dhabi-based airline said:
Airlines outside the Middle East have also been increasingly affected by the ongoing crisis, rerouting airlines repeatedly flights from Iranian airspace since June 13, when Israel began to strike Iran.
Air India said it will suspend all flights to the Middle East. Europe, and further notices on the East Coast of North America.
“The India-surrounded flights from North America have returned to their respective origins, with other flights being rerouted back to India or rerouted away from closed airspace,” the airline said.
Indigo suspended flights to several Middle Eastern cities until early June 24th, but Spicejet warned of possible cancellations in the coming days.
Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore Airlines said it will cancel flights between Singapore and Dubai until June 24th over security concerns.
Qantas, which operates non-stop flights between Perth and Europe, deflected two such flights (Perth London and Perth Paris) on June 23 following the closure of Qatar's airspace. The former detoured to Singapore, and Qantas' flight to Paris returned to Perth.
Australian airlines say they expect some of their European flights to run “as planned” on June 24th. These include flights from Sydney to London (via Singapore), Perthlome and Perth London.
In Europe, airlines such as Iberia, Finnare and Air France-KLM Group have stopped operations in either Doha or Dubai, or both, citing security concerns.
The growing crisis in the Middle East adds to the growing uncertainty of airlines, particularly airlines with flights between Europe and Asia.
Airspace in Russia and Ukraine have already been closed for more than three years amid the ongoing war, and airlines had to re-rout through the Middle East. However, amidst conflicts have grown in recent months, the available flight routes have become increasingly narrower
