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The Age
12-07-2025
- The Age
Jamming and spoofing: The threat airlines deal with every day
The manipulation occurs for planes as flights pass adjacent to areas where militaries disrupt or alter GPS signals to ward off attacks, confuse hostile drones and missiles, or harass pilots. Civilian airlines flying long-haul routes, such as those between Australia and Europe, can be affected. GPS jamming, conducted by military forces, is near constant around Ukraine and parts of Russia. At any given time, the incidence of spoofing that affects commercial airspace shifts. But to give an example, in July to August 2024, the top airspace regions affected by spoofing were Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Russia and Pakistan, according to GPS Spoofing Workgroup report. There has been a more than 200 per cent increase in Global Positioning System loss events between 2021 and 2024, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). 'With continued geopolitical tensions, it is difficult to see this trend reversing in the near term,' said Nick Careen, IATA's senior vice president for operations, safety and security. Spoofing can create some strange effects in the cockpit, like being at 30,000 feet when an alarm comes on telling the pilot to immediately pull up to avoid the ground, or the clocks used by the captain and first officer no longer read the same time. An instrument can falsely indicate a plane is far from its actual location. Another pilot, who flies through affected regions, said GPS jamming now happens daily. The aircraft loses the connection to the GPS, and it flies a bit further and regains the signal again. 'It's no big deal if it's for a limited time while en route.' GPS spoofing, while less frequent, poses a bigger problem, the pilot said. 'That is much more serious if it goes haywire.' It can change the timing of clocks in the aircraft and in the worst case, it can mess with the instruments reading the position of the plane, he said. Planes with their GPS spoofed can unexpectedly turn without air traffic control clearance, deviating from their cleared route. This can put them at risk of entering dangerous or military areas, as almost occurred in 2023 on a flight from Europe to Dubai, according to OpsGroup, an organisation of international flight operations professionals. There's some history here. Civilian planes didn't use GPS until after Korean Air Lines flight 007 was shot down by Soviet aircraft in 1983 after it drifted into Russian airspace. The downing of the Boeing 747-230B, amid Cold War tensions, killed 269 people, and prompted the US government to permit the US-built GPS system to be used for civilian aviation. Experts fear that the abundance of false alarms around GPS can erode a pilot's awareness, or increase distrust of the data. A recent OpsGroup report identified loss of safe distance between other planes on the air route due to false instruments warnings as one of the safety concern arising from spoofing. The GPS Spoofing WorkGroup report also cited instances of surprise altitude climbs by planes initiated by the ground avoidance system in the cockpit. Loading There is also a longer-term effect, too. 'Due to now commonplace encounters of GPS spoofing impacts, there is a gradual, insidious acceptance of increasingly higher risk at [an] organisational level,' a 2024 report concluded. 'Small changes and new behaviours that were slight deviations from the normal course of events gradually become the norm, providing a basis for accepting additional deviance and, typically, higher risk.' A phenomenon known as 'spoofing fatigue' is also emerging: pilots accustomed to frequent spoofing incidents simply stop reporting them. This can lead to a normalising of risk and reduced situational awareness. Different readings on instruments in the cockpit can also cause disagreements between pilots and other crew members regarding the best course of action, clouding the decision-making needed for a safe flight. The pilot interviewed by this masthead said that when they lose GPS en route: 'We basically don't do anything unless a secondary navigation system warns that the plane's route is becoming less precise.' Planes can activate a back-up system called Distance Measuring Equipment, which had been the standard before GPS became commonplace. The pilot said he has never been lost because of jamming or spoofing; however he has been 'slightly off track' and had to ask air traffic control for help. 'That has been because of prolonged GPS loss.' In the pilot's region and with his company, the GPS interference phenomenon is well understood. 'So we have a spoofing guide/checklist so we can prevent some follow-on effects' There can be complex situations but he said, 'We always have back-up plans.' While pilots adapt, lack of GPS can have serious consequences. On Christmas Day last year, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 left Baku for Grozy in the Russian republic of Chechnya when it lost its GPS signal. Russian military forces in Grozny, on guard for Ukrainian drone attacks, had been GPS jamming the area. Flight 8243 tried to approach Grozny twice, said FrontierSI's technical lead Eldar Rubinov. The plane lost GPS on approach to Grozny and asked air traffic controllers for guidance to the runway, he said. Loading 'They tried the approach twice, but both times when they reached the decision-making height (or minimum), they were still above the clouds and couldn't establish a visual contact with the runway.' 'After the second attempt, they indicated to the air traffic control, that they cannot land and they are returning to Baku, and that's when they got shot by an anti-aircraft missile.' The pilots mistook the sound of the missile hit for birdstrike. The plane crashed, killing 38 people while 29 survived with injuries. 'If they had GPS, their minimum would be much lower, so they could've descended below the clouds without any issues,' said Rubinov, who audited the plane's blackbox recording. The lack of GPS was a contributing factor to the crash, Rubinov said. In response to the growing problem of GPS interference, IATA along with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency last month proposed several solutions: standardising radio calls for GPS interference, establishing monitoring and warning practices, and facilitating information sharing. The groups also advocate for restrictions on jamming devices, though the effectiveness of such restrictions is questionable in regions like Russia's Kaliningrad, a major jamming hotspot, or in Israel. Another potential solution for commercial flights is a controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA). This technology can detect and completely block interfering signals from a specific direction, making it almost unjammable.
Sydney Morning Herald
12-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Jamming and spoofing: The threat airlines deal with every day
The manipulation occurs for planes as flights pass adjacent to areas where militaries disrupt or alter GPS signals to ward off attacks, confuse hostile drones and missiles, or harass pilots. Civilian airlines flying long-haul routes, such as those between Australia and Europe, can be affected. GPS jamming, conducted by military forces, is near constant around Ukraine and parts of Russia. At any given time, the incidence of spoofing that affects commercial airspace shifts. But to give an example, in July to August 2024, the top airspace regions affected by spoofing were Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Russia and Pakistan, according to GPS Spoofing Workgroup report. There has been a more than 200 per cent increase in Global Positioning System loss events between 2021 and 2024, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). 'With continued geopolitical tensions, it is difficult to see this trend reversing in the near term,' said Nick Careen, IATA's senior vice president for operations, safety and security. Spoofing can create some strange effects in the cockpit, like being at 30,000 feet when an alarm comes on telling the pilot to immediately pull up to avoid the ground, or the clocks used by the captain and first officer no longer read the same time. An instrument can falsely indicate a plane is far from its actual location. Another pilot, who flies through affected regions, said GPS jamming now happens daily. The aircraft loses the connection to the GPS, and it flies a bit further and regains the signal again. 'It's no big deal if it's for a limited time while en route.' GPS spoofing, while less frequent, poses a bigger problem, the pilot said. 'That is much more serious if it goes haywire.' It can change the timing of clocks in the aircraft and in the worst case, it can mess with the instruments reading the position of the plane, he said. Planes with their GPS spoofed can unexpectedly turn without air traffic control clearance, deviating from their cleared route. This can put them at risk of entering dangerous or military areas, as almost occurred in 2023 on a flight from Europe to Dubai, according to OpsGroup, an organisation of international flight operations professionals. There's some history here. Civilian planes didn't use GPS until after Korean Air Lines flight 007 was shot down by Soviet aircraft in 1983 after it drifted into Russian airspace. The downing of the Boeing 747-230B, amid Cold War tensions, killed 269 people, and prompted the US government to permit the US-built GPS system to be used for civilian aviation. Experts fear that the abundance of false alarms around GPS can erode a pilot's awareness, or increase distrust of the data. A recent OpsGroup report identified loss of safe distance between other planes on the air route due to false instruments warnings as one of the safety concern arising from spoofing. The GPS Spoofing WorkGroup report also cited instances of surprise altitude climbs by planes initiated by the ground avoidance system in the cockpit. Loading There is also a longer-term effect, too. 'Due to now commonplace encounters of GPS spoofing impacts, there is a gradual, insidious acceptance of increasingly higher risk at [an] organisational level,' a 2024 report concluded. 'Small changes and new behaviours that were slight deviations from the normal course of events gradually become the norm, providing a basis for accepting additional deviance and, typically, higher risk.' A phenomenon known as 'spoofing fatigue' is also emerging: pilots accustomed to frequent spoofing incidents simply stop reporting them. This can lead to a normalising of risk and reduced situational awareness. Different readings on instruments in the cockpit can also cause disagreements between pilots and other crew members regarding the best course of action, clouding the decision-making needed for a safe flight. The pilot interviewed by this masthead said that when they lose GPS en route: 'We basically don't do anything unless a secondary navigation system warns that the plane's route is becoming less precise.' Planes can activate a back-up system called Distance Measuring Equipment, which had been the standard before GPS became commonplace. The pilot said he has never been lost because of jamming or spoofing; however he has been 'slightly off track' and had to ask air traffic control for help. 'That has been because of prolonged GPS loss.' In the pilot's region and with his company, the GPS interference phenomenon is well understood. 'So we have a spoofing guide/checklist so we can prevent some follow-on effects' There can be complex situations but he said, 'We always have back-up plans.' While pilots adapt, lack of GPS can have serious consequences. On Christmas Day last year, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 left Baku for Grozy in the Russian republic of Chechnya when it lost its GPS signal. Russian military forces in Grozny, on guard for Ukrainian drone attacks, had been GPS jamming the area. Flight 8243 tried to approach Grozny twice, said FrontierSI's technical lead Eldar Rubinov. The plane lost GPS on approach to Grozny and asked air traffic controllers for guidance to the runway, he said. Loading 'They tried the approach twice, but both times when they reached the decision-making height (or minimum), they were still above the clouds and couldn't establish a visual contact with the runway.' 'After the second attempt, they indicated to the air traffic control, that they cannot land and they are returning to Baku, and that's when they got shot by an anti-aircraft missile.' The pilots mistook the sound of the missile hit for birdstrike. The plane crashed, killing 38 people while 29 survived with injuries. 'If they had GPS, their minimum would be much lower, so they could've descended below the clouds without any issues,' said Rubinov, who audited the plane's blackbox recording. The lack of GPS was a contributing factor to the crash, Rubinov said. In response to the growing problem of GPS interference, IATA along with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency last month proposed several solutions: standardising radio calls for GPS interference, establishing monitoring and warning practices, and facilitating information sharing. The groups also advocate for restrictions on jamming devices, though the effectiveness of such restrictions is questionable in regions like Russia's Kaliningrad, a major jamming hotspot, or in Israel. Another potential solution for commercial flights is a controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA). This technology can detect and completely block interfering signals from a specific direction, making it almost unjammable.
Sydney Morning Herald
11-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Jamming and spoofing: The threat airlines deal with everyday
The manipulation occurs for planes as flights pass adjacent to areas where militaries disrupt or alter GPS signals to ward off attacks, confuse hostile drones and missiles, or harass pilots. Civilian airlines flying long-haul routes, such as those between Australia and Europe, can be affected. GPS jamming, conducted by military forces, is near constant around Ukraine and parts of Russia. At any given time, the incidence of spoofing that affects commercial airspace shifts. But to give an example, in July to August 2024, the top airspace regions affected by spoofing were Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Russia and Pakistan, according to GPS Spoofing Workgroup report. There has been a more than 200 per cent increase in Global Positioning System loss events between 2021 and 2024, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). 'With continued geopolitical tensions, it is difficult to see this trend reversing in the near term,' said Nick Careen, IATA's senior vice president for operations, safety and security. Spoofing can create some strange effects in the cockpit, like being at 30,000 feet when an alarm comes on telling the pilot to immediately pull up to avoid the ground, or the clocks used by the captain and first officer no longer read the same time. An instrument can falsely indicate a plane is far from its actual location. Another pilot, who flies through affected regions, said GPS jamming now happens daily. The aircraft loses the connection to the GPS, and it flies a bit further and regains the signal again. 'It's no big deal if it's for a limited time while en route.' GPS spoofing, while less frequent, poses a bigger problem, the pilot said. 'That is much more serious if it goes haywire.' It can change the timing of clocks in the aircraft and in the worst case, it can mess with the instruments reading the position of the plane, he said. Planes with their GPS spoofed can unexpectedly turn without air traffic control clearance, deviating from their cleared route. This can put them at risk of entering dangerous or military areas, as almost occurred in 2023 on a flight from Europe to Dubai, according to OpsGroup, an organisation of international flight operations professionals. There's some history here. Civilian planes didn't use GPS until after Korean Air Lines flight 007 was shot down by Soviet aircraft in 1983 after it drifted into Russian airspace. The downing of the Boeing 747-230B, amid Cold War tensions, killed 269 people, and prompted the US government to permit the US-built GPS system to be used for civilian aviation. Experts fear that the abundance of false alarms around GPS can erode a pilot's awareness, or increase distrust of the data. A recent OpsGroup report identified loss of safe distance between other planes on the air route due to false instruments warnings as one of the safety concern arising from spoofing. The GPS Spoofing WorkGroup report also cited instances of surprise altitude climbs by planes initiated by the ground avoidance system in the cockpit. Loading There is also a longer-term effect, too. 'Due to now commonplace encounters of GPS spoofing impacts, there is a gradual, insidious acceptance of increasingly higher risk at [an] organisational level,' a 2024 report concluded. 'Small changes and new behaviours that were slight deviations from the normal course of events gradually become the norm, providing a basis for accepting additional deviance and, typically, higher risk.' A phenomenon known as 'spoofing fatigue' is also emerging: pilots accustomed to frequent spoofing incidents simply stop reporting them. This can lead to a normalising of risk and reduced situational awareness. Different readings on instruments in the cockpit can also cause disagreements between pilots and other crew members regarding the best course of action, clouding the decision-making needed for a safe flight. The pilot interviewed by this masthead said that when they lose GPS en route: 'We basically don't do anything unless a secondary navigation system warns that the plane's route is becoming less precise.' Planes can activate a back-up system called Distance Measuring Equipment, which had been the standard before GPS became commonplace. The pilot said he has never been lost because of jamming or spoofing; however he has been 'slightly off track' and had to ask air traffic control for help. 'That has been because of prolonged GPS loss.' In the pilot's region and with his company, the GPS interference phenomenon is well understood. 'So we have a spoofing guide/checklist so we can prevent some follow-on effects' There can be complex situations but he said, 'We always have back-up plans.' While pilots adapt, lack of GPS can have serious consequences. On Christmas Day last year, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 left Baku for Grozy in the Russian republic of Chechnya when it lost its GPS signal. Russian military forces in Grozny, on guard for Ukrainian drone attacks, had been GPS jamming the area. Flight 8243 tried to approach Grozny twice, said FrontierSI's technical lead Eldar Rubinov. The plane lost GPS on approach to Grozny and asked air traffic controllers for guidance to the runway, he said. Loading 'They tried the approach twice, but both times when they reached the decision-making height (or minimum), they were still above the clouds and couldn't establish a visual contact with the runway.' 'After the second attempt, they indicated to the air traffic control, that they cannot land and they are returning to Baku, and that's when they got shot by an anti-aircraft missile.' The pilots mistook the sound of the missile hit for birdstrike. The plane crashed, killing 38 people while 29 survived with injuries. 'If they had GPS, their minimum would be much lower, so they could've descended below the clouds without any issues,' said Rubinov, who audited the plane's blackbox recording. The lack of GPS was a contributing factor to the crash, Rubinov said. In response to the growing problem of GPS interference, IATA along with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency last month proposed several solutions: standardising radio calls for GPS interference, establishing monitoring and warning practices, and facilitating information sharing. The groups also advocate for restrictions on jamming devices, though the effectiveness of such restrictions is questionable in regions like Russia's Kaliningrad, a major jamming hotspot, or in Israel. Another potential solution for commercial flights is a controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA). This technology can detect and completely block interfering signals from a specific direction, making it almost unjammable.
The Age
11-07-2025
- The Age
Jamming and spoofing: The threat airlines deal with everyday
The manipulation occurs for planes as flights pass adjacent to areas where militaries disrupt or alter GPS signals to ward off attacks, confuse hostile drones and missiles, or harass pilots. Civilian airlines flying long-haul routes, such as those between Australia and Europe, can be affected. GPS jamming, conducted by military forces, is near constant around Ukraine and parts of Russia. At any given time, the incidence of spoofing that affects commercial airspace shifts. But to give an example, in July to August 2024, the top airspace regions affected by spoofing were Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, Russia and Pakistan, according to GPS Spoofing Workgroup report. There has been a more than 200 per cent increase in Global Positioning System loss events between 2021 and 2024, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). 'With continued geopolitical tensions, it is difficult to see this trend reversing in the near term,' said Nick Careen, IATA's senior vice president for operations, safety and security. Spoofing can create some strange effects in the cockpit, like being at 30,000 feet when an alarm comes on telling the pilot to immediately pull up to avoid the ground, or the clocks used by the captain and first officer no longer read the same time. An instrument can falsely indicate a plane is far from its actual location. Another pilot, who flies through affected regions, said GPS jamming now happens daily. The aircraft loses the connection to the GPS, and it flies a bit further and regains the signal again. 'It's no big deal if it's for a limited time while en route.' GPS spoofing, while less frequent, poses a bigger problem, the pilot said. 'That is much more serious if it goes haywire.' It can change the timing of clocks in the aircraft and in the worst case, it can mess with the instruments reading the position of the plane, he said. Planes with their GPS spoofed can unexpectedly turn without air traffic control clearance, deviating from their cleared route. This can put them at risk of entering dangerous or military areas, as almost occurred in 2023 on a flight from Europe to Dubai, according to OpsGroup, an organisation of international flight operations professionals. There's some history here. Civilian planes didn't use GPS until after Korean Air Lines flight 007 was shot down by Soviet aircraft in 1983 after it drifted into Russian airspace. The downing of the Boeing 747-230B, amid Cold War tensions, killed 269 people, and prompted the US government to permit the US-built GPS system to be used for civilian aviation. Experts fear that the abundance of false alarms around GPS can erode a pilot's awareness, or increase distrust of the data. A recent OpsGroup report identified loss of safe distance between other planes on the air route due to false instruments warnings as one of the safety concern arising from spoofing. The GPS Spoofing WorkGroup report also cited instances of surprise altitude climbs by planes initiated by the ground avoidance system in the cockpit. Loading There is also a longer-term effect, too. 'Due to now commonplace encounters of GPS spoofing impacts, there is a gradual, insidious acceptance of increasingly higher risk at [an] organisational level,' a 2024 report concluded. 'Small changes and new behaviours that were slight deviations from the normal course of events gradually become the norm, providing a basis for accepting additional deviance and, typically, higher risk.' A phenomenon known as 'spoofing fatigue' is also emerging: pilots accustomed to frequent spoofing incidents simply stop reporting them. This can lead to a normalising of risk and reduced situational awareness. Different readings on instruments in the cockpit can also cause disagreements between pilots and other crew members regarding the best course of action, clouding the decision-making needed for a safe flight. The pilot interviewed by this masthead said that when they lose GPS en route: 'We basically don't do anything unless a secondary navigation system warns that the plane's route is becoming less precise.' Planes can activate a back-up system called Distance Measuring Equipment, which had been the standard before GPS became commonplace. The pilot said he has never been lost because of jamming or spoofing; however he has been 'slightly off track' and had to ask air traffic control for help. 'That has been because of prolonged GPS loss.' In the pilot's region and with his company, the GPS interference phenomenon is well understood. 'So we have a spoofing guide/checklist so we can prevent some follow-on effects' There can be complex situations but he said, 'We always have back-up plans.' While pilots adapt, lack of GPS can have serious consequences. On Christmas Day last year, Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 left Baku for Grozy in the Russian republic of Chechnya when it lost its GPS signal. Russian military forces in Grozny, on guard for Ukrainian drone attacks, had been GPS jamming the area. Flight 8243 tried to approach Grozny twice, said FrontierSI's technical lead Eldar Rubinov. The plane lost GPS on approach to Grozny and asked air traffic controllers for guidance to the runway, he said. Loading 'They tried the approach twice, but both times when they reached the decision-making height (or minimum), they were still above the clouds and couldn't establish a visual contact with the runway.' 'After the second attempt, they indicated to the air traffic control, that they cannot land and they are returning to Baku, and that's when they got shot by an anti-aircraft missile.' The pilots mistook the sound of the missile hit for birdstrike. The plane crashed, killing 38 people while 29 survived with injuries. 'If they had GPS, their minimum would be much lower, so they could've descended below the clouds without any issues,' said Rubinov, who audited the plane's blackbox recording. The lack of GPS was a contributing factor to the crash, Rubinov said. In response to the growing problem of GPS interference, IATA along with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency last month proposed several solutions: standardising radio calls for GPS interference, establishing monitoring and warning practices, and facilitating information sharing. The groups also advocate for restrictions on jamming devices, though the effectiveness of such restrictions is questionable in regions like Russia's Kaliningrad, a major jamming hotspot, or in Israel. Another potential solution for commercial flights is a controlled reception pattern antenna (CRPA). This technology can detect and completely block interfering signals from a specific direction, making it almost unjammable.
ABC News
23-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Are flights to Dubai and Doha cancelled? Airlines assessing risk during Israel-Iran war
Australian travellers have so far been spared flight cancellations or major disruptions, despite global airlines avoiding areas of conflict in the Middle East or suspending services altogether. Flight trackers show airlines are avoiding airspace over Iran, Iraq and Israel, while some have cancelled services to areas on the southern side of the Gulf. Former A380 captain James Nixon said avoiding certain airspace was "business as usual" for airlines. "You just trust the security department of the airline that you're not going to be rerouted over anything like that, and they close those air spaces immediately," he said. "Every day, there are airlines having to be rerouted over airspace." How is safety monitored? Mr Nixon, who has 31 years' experience flying, said companies that monitored flight risks, such as Ops Group, provided information to airlines' security and flight planning departments. "They just build flight paths around the areas that are closing," he said. "People are now being routed over Saudi and up through Egypt, and into Europe that way, and they are not going through Iraq, Iran or Jordan." He said at this stage, those areas on the southern side of the Persian Gulf were "completely safe". "It is hundreds of miles away from any action," he said. University of Southern Queensland Professor of Aviation Kan Tsui said airlines would be monitoring risks through their safety management systems. "They have a standard procedure to assess the risk to any particular flight," he said. "Once they assess a risk to the flight that's ongoing … they will have a plan to reroute or avoid particular airspace." Virgin Australia's newly launched flights to Doha, in partnership with Qatar Airlines, haven't been affected. It only launched its Sydney to Doha and Brisbane to Doha services last week. The airline is monitoring the situation closely. Qantas doesn't itself fly to Doha or Dubai. Those flights are operated by Emirates or Qatar. Which Airlines are cancelling flights? Some airlines have suspended services. Singapore Airlines has cancelled flights. ( ABC News: Brant Cumming ) Singapore Airlines cancelled flights to and from Dubai on Sunday after a "security assessment of the geopolitical situation". It warned further services on the Dubai route may be affected "as the situation remains fluid". British Airways A British Airways plane. ( Flickr: Clement Alloing ) British Airways also suspended flights to Doha and Dubai. It said it was reviewing the situation for future flights. Air France Passengers wait at the Air France check-in counter at the Tom Jobim International airport in Rio de Janeiro June 1, 2009. An Air France plane with 228 people on board was presumed to have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Monday after hitting stormy weather during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. ( Sergio Moraes: Reuters, file photo ) Air France cancelled flights to and from Dubai and Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh. Emirates Emirates are resuming flights to Adelaide. ( Supplied: Emirates ) Emirates, which operates out of Dubai, has suspended all flights to Iran and Iraq for the next week at least. Qatar Airways Qatar Airways has cancelled flights to Iraq, Iran and Syria. ( Supplied: Facebook Qatar Airways ) Qatar Airways has cancelled flights to Iran, Iraq and Syria It advised other passengers that some flight times may change to minimise disruptions. Etihad Airways In this May 4, 2014 file photo, an Etihad Airways plane prepares to land at the Abu Dhabi airport in the United Arab Emirates ( AP: Kamran Jebreili ) Etihad Airways warned its customers the situation remained "highly dynamic". "Further changes or disruption, including sudden airspace closures or operational impact, may occur at short notice." Israel's Airports Authority said so-called rescue flights to the country would expand on Monday to 24 a day, although each flight would be limited to 50 passengers. Israeli airline El Al said it had received applications to leave the country from about 25,000 people in about a day. Could flight prices increase? Given the volatility of the situation, Professor Tsui said the broader impacts on the aviation industry wouldn't be known for days. One impact of flying longer routes to avoid the region, he said, was it used more fuel. "Whether the airline passes on the extra operational cost to passengers really depends on the airlines," he said. "But I predict that the airlines would pass on the cost to passengers, so maybe in the near future or in future bookings, their ticket price would be increased." He said another factor could be travellers cancelling their plans — perceiving, whether correctly or incorrectly, that travel was more dangerous at the moment. "[In the past we have] seen the impacts of geopolitical risks or war affecting travel demand or tourist demand … [travellers being] more cautious, thinking about not just the ticket price itself but also their safety." ABC/Reuters
