Airlines evacuated airspace over the Middle East on Friday after Israeli strikes on Iran forced carriers to cancel or divert thousands of flights in the latest upheaval to travel in the region.
Proliferating conflict zones around the world are becoming an increasing burden on airline operations and profitability, and more of a safety concern. Detours add to airlines' fuel costs and lengthen journey times.
Israel on Friday claimed it targeted Iran's nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders at the start of what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.
Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further notice, and Israel's air defense units stood at high alert for possible retaliatory strikes from Iran.
Israel's El Al Airlines said it had suspended flights to and from Israel, as did Air France KLM and budget carriers Ryanair and Wizz.
Wizz said it had rerouted flights affected by closed airspace in the region for the next 72 hours. Israeli airlines El Al, Israir and Arkia were moving planes out of the country.
With Russian and Ukrainian airspace closed due to war, the Middle East region has become an even more important route for international flights between Europe and Asia.
About 1,800 flights to and from Europe had been affected so far on Friday, including approximately 650 canceled flights, according to Eurocontrol.
The escalation of the Middle East conflict knocked shares in airlines in Europe and the Middle East, with British Airways owner IAG down 3.8% and easyJet off 3.5%.
Many global airlines had already halted flights to and from Tel Aviv after a missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels toward Israel on May 4 landed near the airport.
Iranian airspace has been closed until further notice, according to state media and notices to pilots.
As reports of strikes on Iran emerged, a number of commercial flights by airlines including Dubai's Emirates, Lufthansa and Air India were flying over Iran.
Air India, which overflies Iran for its Europe and North American flights, said several flights were being diverted or returned to their origin, including ones from New York, Vancouver, Chicago and London.
German airline group Lufthansa said it would suspend flights to and from Tehran until July 31. It also extended the suspension of Tel Aviv flights for the same period.
The company said it would avoid Iranian, Iraqi and Israeli airspace for the time being.
Emirates also canceled flights to and from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iran.
Qatar Airways, the country's national carrier and one of the Middle East's largest, said it had "temporarily canceled flights to Iran and Iraq due to (the) current situation in the region."
The airline also canceled its two scheduled flights to Damascus on Friday, Flightradar24 data shows.
In the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi airport warned "flight disruptions are expected through today (Friday)" as a result of the Israeli strikes.
Dubai's airport also announced flight delays and cancellations to the closure of airspaces in Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Turkish Airlines subsidiary AJet has canceled flights to Iran, Iraq and Jordan until Monday morning following Israel's attack, a company source said on Friday.
The source said that AJet will operate flights to Lebanon only during daylight hours. It plans to operate flights to elsewhere in the Middle East including flying over Iraq without using the affected airspace, the source added.
Budget carrier Pegasus Airlines also said it had canceled flights to Iran until June 19 and flights to Iraq and Jordan until Monday.
The company said in a statement that it will operate flights to Lebanon only during daylight hours.
SunExpress, a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, said its Friday's flights to Lebanon and Jordan were canceled.
The carrier also said Iranian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Jordanian and Israeli airspace would be avoided.
Swiss airline, which is owned by Lufthansa, suspended its Tel Aviv flights until Oct. 25, while those to Beirut will be suspended until the end of July.
Iraq early on Friday closed its airspace and suspended all traffic at its airports, state media reported.
Eastern Iraq near the border with Iran contains one of the world's busiest air corridors, with dozens of flights crossing between Europe and the Gulf, many on routes from Asia to Europe, at any one moment.
Jordan, which sits between Israel and Iraq, closed its airspace several hours after the Israeli campaign began.
Syria on Friday announced it had closed its airspace "temporarily" as part of "precautionary measures we are taking to ensure the safety of civil aviation amid the current regional developments."
Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said it had instructed Russian airlines to stop using the airspace of Iran, Iraq, Israel and Jordan until June 26. It said flights to airports in Iran and Israel were also off-limits for civil carriers.
FlightRadar data showed airspace over Iran, Iraq and Jordan was empty in the late morning in Europe on Friday, with flights directed toward Saudi Arabia and Egypt instead.
"Traffic is now diverting either south via Egypt and Saudi Arabia, or north via Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan," according to Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organization that shares flight risk information.
Flights from six airlines including Etihad Airways and Turkish Airlines (THY) were diverted to Baku, Azerbaijan, according to its Heydar Aliyev International Airport.
An Emirates flight from Manchester to Dubai was diverted to Istanbul and a flydubai flight from Belgrade diverted to Yerevan, Armenia.
Budget carrier flydubai said it had suspended flights to Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Iran and Israel, and a number of other flights had been canceled, rerouted or returned to their departure airports.
Israel's genocidal attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 2023 led to commercial aviation sharing the skies with short-notice barrages of drones and missiles across major flight paths – some of which were reportedly close enough to be seen by pilots and passengers.
Six commercial aircraft have been shot down unintentionally and there have been three near misses since 2001, according to aviation risk consultancy Osprey Flight Solutions.
Airspace in the Middle East last year was crossed daily by 1,400 flights to and from Europe, Eurocontrol data show.
Last year, planes were shot down by weaponry in Kazakhstan and in Sudan. These incidents followed the high-profile downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 and of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 en route from Tehran in 2020.
