Airlines weigh Middle East cancellations after US strikes in Iran
Cancellations in recent days to typically resilient aviation hubs such as Dubai, the world's busiest international airport, and Qatar's Doha by international carriers show how aviation industry concerns about the region have escalated.
The usually busy airspace stretching from Iran and Iraq to the Mediterranean has been largely empty of commercial air traffic for 10 days since Israel began strikes on Iran on June 13, as airlines divert, cancel and delay flights through the region due to airspace closures and safety concerns.
Finnair was the first to announce a prolonged suspension of flights to Doha, with cancellations until June 30.
Leading Asian carrier Singapore Airlines, which described the situation as "fluid", moved to cancel flights to Dubai through to Tuesday, having previously cancelled only its Sunday service.
Air France KLM, IAG-owned Iberia and British Airways, and Kazakhstan's Air Astana all cancelled flights to either Doha or Dubai both on Sunday and Monday.
Air France also cancelled flights to Riyadh and said it would suspend flights to and from Beirut, Lebanon until Wednesday included.
A spokesperson for Iberia said the carrier has not made a decision regarding later flights. BA said its teams were keeping the situation under review.
Carriers are likely avoiding airports in UAE and Qatar and, to a lesser extent, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, due to concerns that Iran or its proxies will target drone or missile attacks on U.S. military bases in these countries, aviation risk consultancy Osprey Flight Solutions said.
With Russian and Ukrainian airspace also closed to most airlines due to years of war, the Middle East had become a more important route for flights between Europe and Asia. Amid missile and air strikes during the past 10 days, airlines have routed north via the Caspian Sea or south via Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Added to increased fuel and crew costs from these long detours and cancellations, carriers also face a potential hike in jet fuel costs as oil prices rise following the U.S. attacks.
Australia-based Flight Centre Travel Group said it is getting a small number of customer requests to route journeys to Europe away from Middle Eastern hubs.
"The most common transfer hubs that we're seeing requested are Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Johannesburg, or even direct between Perth and London," said Graham Turner, CEO of Australia-based Flight Centre Travel Group.
AIRSPACE RISKS
Proliferating conflict zones are an increasing operational burden on airlines, as aerial attacks raise worries about accidental or deliberate shoot-downs of commercial air traffic.
Location spoofing and GPS interference around political hotspots, where ground-based GPS systems broadcast incorrect positions which can send commercial airliners off course, are also a growing issue for commercial aviation.
Flightradar24 told Reuters it had seen a "dramatic increase" in jamming and spoofing in recent days over the Persian Gulf. SkAI, a Swiss company that runs a GPS disruption map, late on Sunday said it had observed more than 150 aircraft spoofed in 24 hours there.
Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organisation that shares flight risk information, said U.S. attacks on Iran's nuclear sites could heighten the threat to American operators in the region.
This could raise additional airspace risks in Gulf states like Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, it said.
In the days before the U.S. strikes, American Airlines suspended flights to Qatar, and United Airlines and Air Canada did the same with flights to Dubai. They have yet to resume.
While international airlines are shying away from the region, local carriers in Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq are tentatively resuming some flights after widespread cancellations.
Israel is ramping up flights to help people return home as well as leave. A handful of so-called rescue flights landed in the country on Monday morning, with 24 in total scheduled for the day.
The country's Airports Authority said that Israeli airlines would resume outbound flights on Monday, with a limit of 50 passengers.
Israeli airline El Al on Sunday said it had received applications to leave the country from about 25,000 people in about a day.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York and Lisa Barrington in Seoul; additional reporting by Inti Landauro in Madrid; Editing by Sonali Paul, Kate Mayberry and Louise Heavens) - Reuters
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