The Iran-Israel-US conflict, which started on June 13 when Israel launched a surprise attack on Iranian soil, has disrupted air travel in the Middle East and forced airlines to reroute long-haul flights to safer airspaces.
Providing an overview of airlines’ reaction to the instability in the Middle East, Mayur Patel, head of Asia at OAG Aviation, said: “Major airlines including Lufthansa, British Airways, Emirates, and Singapore Airlines have had to cancel or reroute flights. Singapore Airlines, for instance, suspended its flights to Dubai from June 22 following an internal security assessment, with the suspension remaining in effect at the time of writing (on June 25).”
He added that there has been “a significant drop in flights operating via key Middle Eastern air hubs, particularly Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Manama” since June 13.
“The temporary closure of airspace over Iran, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and briefly across parts of the Gulf led to widespread flight cancellations, diversions, and delays. For instance, Hamad International Airport in Doha saw over 250 cancellations and more than 200 delays on June 24 alone.”
This has resulted in preferred air corridors and air hubs shifting to other regions. Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia air corridors are favoured while European hubs such as Frankfurt, Istanbul, and Amsterdam, as well as Asian major gateways are processing higher transit traffic.
Patel also told TTG Asia that overall flight bookings to the Middle East have likely declined since June 13, driven by widespread cancellations and rerouting in response to the Israel–Iran conflict.
“Evolving airspace restrictions and heightened security advisories have led both businesses and leisure travellers to scale back their travel plans, even though precise booking data is not yet available,” he stated.
Ongoing conflicts in both the Middle East and Russia, along with a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran, have deeper operational impact on airlines, beyond an upset flight schedule and inconvenienced travellers.
Subhas Menon, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, told TTG Asia: “The frequent closures and diversions as well as cancellations in some cases cause costs to go up and affect schedule reliability, not to mention the reaccommodation costs and cost to crew scheduling. Additionally, capacity which is already constrained will be further affected while demand remains resilient.”
Similarly, Patel also warned of a cost impact – carriers forced to adopt longer flight paths to avoid restricted zones will incur higher fuel consumption, extended crew duty hours, and increased operating costs. These burdens come on top of complicated crew scheduling and stretched operational resilience.
“These adjustments have triggered widespread delays, particularly on long-haul routes connecting Europe, Asia, and Australasia,” he noted.
Patel said: “Managing these changes amid evolving NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) advisories and congested air traffic control has further strained airlines – especially those operating hub-and-spoke models that depend on tight schedules and quick turnarounds.”
With the US now drawn into the Israel-Iran conflict amid its abrasive stance on global trade, Subhas said travel to the US “has definitely seen a downturn” while “traffic and trade flows on other routes are holding firm”.
He expects June’s air traffic report to show some short term effects due to the frequent disruptions to capacity.
As of this morning, several Persian Gulf states, including Qatar and the UAE, have reopened their airspace and resumed flights. Further, Flightradar24’s update on X stated that Iran has partially reopened its airspace to permitted international flights to and from Tehran.
A spokesperson from Royal Jordanian Airline told TTG Asia that operations had resumed after the second day of the conflict, and that the airline is among the few that continue to operate flights to the Levant region and Jordan. The airline launched its first non-stop service between Mumbai and Amman on June 19.
