In the wake of Sunday mornings’s attack on Israel following the strategic bombing, allegedly by Israel, of the Iranian consulate in Syria, scores of flights worldwide have been rerouted or cancelled.
Airspace across the Middle East, for the most part, reopened on Sunday after Iran launched approximately 300 drones and missiles on Israel overnight on Saturday. Nonetheless, some airlines are reportedly maintaining diversionary flightpaths so as to avoid Iran and Israel’s airspace.
According to news.com.au, on Sunday morning, Iran was closed to VFR (visual flight rules) flights. Israel’s airspace was shut until 07h30 local time, while Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq opened their airspace the same morning.
On Monday morning, data from FlightRadar24 indicated only three flights were delayed arriving in Tel Aviv, while three departures were cancelled and five delayed. Disruptions were also felt in Jordan, with Amman Queen Alia International Airport reporting one cancelled flight and 15 delayed. Delays in Dubai, meant that 32 departing flights were delayed.
Last week, Lufthansa announced that it would cease flights to Tehran amidst security concerns. On April 12, it announced that it would extend the suspension until Thursday. Its website still says that it will fly daily again from Frankfurt to Iran’s capital from September 1.
Many Middle East carriers advised that they would resume flights today, April 15, although flights between Emirates’ hub in Dubai and Tel Aviv are marked ‘not available’ for bookings on the airline’s website until Wednesday, April 17.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and making all efforts to ensure minimal disruption to customers after recent airspace closures,” a spokesperson from Emirates told Reuters.
Etihad said it may operate limited capacity through Monday.
“There may still be a risk of some knock-on disruption across Monday,” said the airline.
