Egypt requests that its planes stay out of Iran’s airspace on Thursday for three hours

Amid tensions between Israel and Iran, Egypt ordered all of its flights to stay out of Iranian airspace for three hours on Thursday morning.

Pilots were sent a safety alert on Wednesday, the NOTAM, which said that the directive will be in force from 0100 to 0400 GMT. It didn’t elaborate on the reason behind the notice’s issuance.

“Every Egyptian airline must refrain from flying over Tehran (Flight Information Region).” The warning said that “no flight plan will be accepted overflying such territory,” referring to the allotted three hours.

Later on Wednesday, Egypt’s civil aviation ministry stated that the notice was meant to lower the risks associated with flight safety after receiving information from Iranian authorities.

“Military exercises will be conducted over Iranian airspace on Aug. 7 from 11:30 to 14:30 and from 4:30 to 7:30 on Aug. 8 Tehran time,” added the statement.

The unidentified source, cited by the state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV, said that Iranian officials had instructed pilots to avoid flying in Iranian airspace due to “military exercises.” This information was followed by the ministry’s press release.

Following the deaths of key members of the terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, several airlines are canceling flights to Israel and Lebanon and rearranging their itineraries to avoid Iranian and Lebanese airspace out of concern for a potential wider confrontation.

A NOTAM from Egypt of this kind is quite rare. While there might be other explanations, it’s plausible that this is a sign of an Iranian reaction to Israel and, consequently, a significant number of airspace interruptions “OPSGROUP, a membership-based organization that disseminates flight-risk information, stated.

Jordanian officials requested on Sunday that all aircraft arriving at their airports carry an additional 45 minutes’ fuel.

In response to aircraft strikes on Israel earlier this year, several nations in the area, including Jordan, restricted their airspace.