Joe Brock
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – International airlines faced flight disruptions on Monday after Iranian missile and drone strikes on Israel further tightened capacity for planes flying between Europe and Asia.
Iran’s attack on Israel with more than 300 missiles and drones, most of which were shot down by Israel’s US-backed missile defense system, has wreaked havoc on the aviation industry.
At least a dozen airlines have had to cancel or reroute flights over the past two days, including Qantas, Germany’s Lufthansa, United Airlines and Air India.
It was the biggest disruption to air travel since the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, according to Mark Zee, founder of OPSGROUP, which monitors airspace and airports.
“We haven’t had a situation since then where so many different airspaces have been closed so quickly, and it’s creating chaos,” Zee told Reuters, adding that the outage was likely to last a couple more days.
The latest routing problems are a blow to an industry that already faces many restrictions due to conflicts between Israel and Hamas, as well as Russia and Ukraine.
Iran’s airspace is used by airlines flying between Europe and Asia, and those carriers will be limited to two viable alternative routes: either through Turkey or through Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Zee said.
Israel closed its airspace on Saturday and then reopened it on Sunday morning. Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon have also resumed flights over their territories.
The Middle East’s biggest airlines, including Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways, said on Sunday they would resume operations in the region after canceling or rerouting some flights.
It’s unclear whether the latest unrest will impact passenger demand, which remains strong despite ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, said Brendan Sobie, an independent aviation analyst.
“If the political situation and conflicts continue to escalate, at some point people will start to worry about traveling, but that hasn’t happened yet,” Sobie said.