Iran Closes Airspace After Israeli Strikes, Putting Middle East Aviation in Chaos

Many planes were canceled by airlines after Israel’s airstrikes on Iran shut down airspace all over the Middle East.

Israeli airstrikes on Iranian targets shut down key airspace on Friday, making it very hard to fly across the Middle East. As a result, thousands of flights had to be canceled or rerouted as global tensions rose.

Airlines had to stay away from Iranian, Iraqi, and Jordanian skies after Israel attacked Iran’s military leaders, nuclear facilities, and sites where missiles are made. Israel said that the attack was the first step in a long-term plan to stop Iran from making nuclear weapons.

As the conflict got worse, Israel’s air defense systems were put on high watch in case Iran tried to respond with violence. Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv was also closed.

As things got worse, a number of big airlines stopped flying. El Al, the official airline of Israel, along with Air France-KLM, Ryanair, Wizz Air, and Delta Air Lines, stopped all flights to and from Israel. Delta will not be flying to Tel Aviv until at least the end of August.

Wizz Air stated that it had rerouted flights that were not able to go through the closed airspace for at least 72 hours. For safety reasons, Israeli companies like El Al, Israir, and Arkia started moving their planes out of the country.

FlightRadar data showed that the skies above Iran, Iraq, and Jordan were mostly empty. Instead, planes that had to go somewhere else went through Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Eurocontrol says that about 1,800 planes going to or from Europe were affected on Friday alone, with about 650 of them having to be canceled.

The problems happen at a time when the Middle East is becoming an even more important air route for planes between Europe and Asia. This is especially true since Russian and Ukrainian airspace is still closed because of the war.

Because of what happened, airline stocks around the world fell. IAG, the parent company of British Airways, fell 4.6%, Delta fell 4%, and Ryanair fell 3.5%. The Israeli strikes caused oil prices to rise, which made people worry about the cost of jet fuel going up too.

After the Houthi rebels in Yemen fired a rocket near the airport in May, many airlines had already stopped flying to Tel Aviv.

Official aviation warnings and state media say that Iran’s airspace is now officially closed until further notice.

Air India says that some of its flights, including those from New York, Chicago, Vancouver, and London, had been redirected or sent back to the places where they left from while they were in the air over Iran.