Airspace closed, flights cancelled amid US and Israel attacks and Iran’s strikes in retaliation

Flights across the Middle East were cancelled today as several countries closed their airspace. Photo / Unsplash

Flights across the Middle East were cancelled today as several countries closed their airspace after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates all announced at least partial closures of their skies in the hours after smoke began rising over Tehran and Iran began retaliatory attacks in the region.

Iranian missiles hit capital cities around the wealthy Gulf region, killing at least one, as witnesses reported seeing warplanes and projectiles streaking through the skies.

Carriers including Air France, Air India, Turkish Airlines, Norwegian, Air Algerie and Lufthansa announced widespread cancellations.

According to aviation analytics company Cirium, of around 4218 flights scheduled to land in Middle Eastern countries on Saturday local time, 966 (22.9%) were cancelled, with the figure rising above 1800 if also including outbound flights.

For Sunday local time, 716 flights out of 4329 scheduled to the Middle East have been cancelled, Cirium said.

Flight tracking website FlightAware said more than 18,000 flights had been delayed globally and more than 2350 cancelled worldwide as of 10am today NZT.

Airspace closures

• Iran swiftly closed its airspace as the strikes began “until further notice”, said the spokesman of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation, quoted by the Tasnim news agency.
• Israel also closed its airspace to civilian flights, Transport Minister Miri Regev announced.
• Qatar’s civil aviation authority said it had temporarily closed the Gulf state’s airspace.
• Iraq shut down airspace, state media said.
• The United Arab Emirates said it was closing its skies “partially and temporarily”.
• Syria closed part of its airspace in the south along the border with Israel for 12 hours, the Civil Aviation Authority said.
• Jordan’s Air Force was conducting drills to “defend the kingdom’s skies”, its military said.
• Kuwait closed its airspace.

Flights cancelled

Gulf carriers: Emirates and Etihad cancelled 38% and 30% of their flights respectively, Cirium said.

Qatar Airways: suspended all flights from Doha. Cancelled 41% of total flights, according to Cirium.

Syria Air: Syria’s national carrier cancelled all flights until further notice.

Delta Air Lines: suspended New York–Tel Aviv flights until Sunday.

American Airlines: Doha-Philadelphia flights were “temporarily suspended”.

Russia: The country’s air transport authority Rosaviatsia said all commercial flights to Israel and Iran were cancelled “until further notice”.

Air India: suspended flights to all destinations in the Middle East.

Pakistan International Airlines: the flag carrier of Pakistan, which borders Iran, said it had suspended flights to the UAE, Bahrain, Doha and Kuwait.

Ariana Afghan Airlines: cancelled a Kabul-Dubai flight and a Kabul-Mazar-i-Sharif-Jeddah flight.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines: suspended all flights to the Middle East.

Turkish Airlines: suspended flights to 10 Middle East nations.

“Flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Jordan have been cancelled until March 2,” said a spokesman. Flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE and Oman were only suspended for the day.

Air France: cancelled its Dubai, Riyadh and Beirut flights for Saturday local time, and flights to Tel Aviv until Sunday local time, saying it would provide schedule updates later.

British Airways: not flying to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until March 4, flight to Jordanian capital Amman cancelled on Saturday local time.

Swiss International Air Lines: suspending flights to and from Tel Aviv until March 7.

The Swiss flag carrier said it was “also cancelling the flights from Zurich to Dubai” scheduled for Saturday and Sunday local time.

Lufthansa: cancelled its flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Erbil and Tehran until March 7.

The German airline group, which comprises Swiss and ITA Airways, said it and its subsidiaries were also suspending flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi until Sunday local time.

Algerian carrier Air Algerie: suspending Saturday’s flights to Amman, Dubai and Doha.

Finnair: suspended daily flights to Dubai and Doha until March 6.

Norwegian: suspending its flights to and from Dubai up until and including March 4.

“We will then assess if it’s possible to resume flights,” the budget carrier told AFP.

Wizz Air: Hungary’s low-cost carrier suspended “all flights to and from Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman until March 7 inclusive” and cancelled flights to Saudi Arabia until March 2.

-Agence France-Presse