Several Airlines cancel flights or reroute planes over Middle East
AMN
Amid the escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, Air India on Sunday decided to temporarily suspend the flights to Tel Aviv from Delhi. Airlines have charted alternative flight paths to avoid the Iranian airspace.
Longer flight paths will result in increased operational costs for the carriers, and the situation could also push airfares higher.
Air India, Vistara, IndiGo and some international airlines are avoiding Iranian airspace and have opted for alternative paths for their flights to the West.
A senior wide-body aircraft pilot at an Indian carrier told PTI that the alternative paths are increasing the flight duration.
With the revised flight paths chosen after taking safety and security into consideration, the duration of some flights has increased by around half an hour, the pilot said.
Airlines have been canceling flights and changing routes following Iran’s air attack toward Israel.
Data from the US Federal Aviation Administration and some media reports show that airspaces over Tel Aviv in Israel and Tehran in Iran, as well as Lebanon, are closed. And multiple media outside Japan say that the Iranian attacks are disrupting air travel over the region.
Swiss International Air Lines, the flag carrier of Switzerland, has told NHK that it decided to suspend its flight operations to and from Tel Aviv until further notice. It cited safety as the reason.
It said all of its aircraft are avoiding the airspaces of Iran, Iraq and Israel. It also said as a result, flights from Delhi, India, and Singapore to Zurich have longer routes.
International media report that United Airlines, a US carrier, has decided to cancel some, if not all, flights to Tel Aviv.