In Friday morning, Israel carried out attacks on many Iranian military facilities, explaining this with the desire to stop the development of the nuclear program. Iran announced retaliation, and then realized an impact on Israel's territory using drones. In response, both countries, as well as Iraq and Jordan, closed their airspace.
As a result, many aircraft had to change the route – instead of flying over Iraq, they were directed, for example, by Central Asia or Saudi Arabia. As specialists notice, one of the key air corridors of the world – leading over Eastern Iraq and connecting Europe with the Persian Gulf countries – was excluded from use. Some carriers still maintain the suspension of cruises to Tel Aviv, which previously suspended, among others due to the threat of the Yemeni Huti. Ben Gurion's airport was closed in Israel, and the El Al national carrier decided to evacuate its machines outside the country.
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“Huge problem for the line”
Dominik Sipiński from the CH-AVIATION company, commenting on the situation for PAP, emphasizes that the effects of an Israeli attack have two main dimensions: operational and market.
– “Operatingly closing the airspace over Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Israel is a huge problem for a whole range of lines, although it is difficult to say now how long the difficulties will last. The worst in the situation are lines from these countries” – noted the expert.
As an example, he gave Royal Jordanian – a dynamically developing carrier, whose planes currently do not have the opportunity to return to the base in Amman, despite the fact that Jordan is not directly involved in the conflict.
Sipiński points out that Iran, Iraq and Jordan are important directions for carriers from the Persian Gulf. Their exclusion also significantly complicates flights to Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia countries.
– “From the point of view of passengers from Europe, this means difficulties and extending flights to Asia, including popular interchange connections by Doha or Dubai, while routes from Europe are still possible, they only last a little longer “ – he adds.
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The flight has a problem
In the opinion of the expert, for the Polish Airlines LOT, the biggest problem is the temporary exclusion of the Israeli market – a lucrative direction that has already been limited by war in Gaza.
– “Since the start of the Israeli attack on gauze and other countries, lines from abroad are exposed to large fluctuations, which the lines from Israel most use most – because they do not cancel flights and have great state support (including in terms of covering insurance costs), they are able to almost monopolize the market and significantly increased the margins” – says Sipiński.
For Western carriers, the unpredictability of the situation remains the main challenge.
– “Israel is an important market for them and are trying to restore cruises as soon as possible, but from 1.5 years they are basically in the constant state of response to the crisis. Mesh cuts shortly in advance do not give the opportunity to redirect the offer to other markets; Lack of flights to Israel affects the interchange connections to the states, and the restoration of the offer cannot be strategically planned, “says the expert.
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The tourist sector will suffer
Mariusz Piotrowski from the Fly4free.pl portal is of a similar opinion, which indicates that the conflict causes significant perturbations in the aviation industry.
– “In the long run it is bad information for airlines and passengers, which can already be seen in the increase in oil prices, which in turn will translate into the price of aviation fuel,” said Piotrowski.
According to him, the tourist sector – especially Israel, who has already lost tourists through tensions with Palestine – will also suffer losses.
– “And now Jordan, which has been very popular in recent years. Increased tension already negatively affects the tourist traffic in this country. Perhaps this will affect the decisions of the carriers themselves to allocate their slots, which can make there less connections to Jordan, “he indicates.
After Friday's attacks, oil prices increased rapidly – from 74 to 78 dollars for the Brent oil barrel – then they fell slightly.
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Israel-Iran conflict. The lines change the aircraft course
The airlines around the world react to changes – Turkish Airlines and Etihad Airways directed their machines to the tank, Emirates redirected the flight from Manchester to Dubai to Istanbul, and Flydubai turned the machine from Belgrade to Erivania. Qatar Airways canceled some of the flights to Damascus, and Air India announced the need to change routes, including from New York, Vancouver, Chicago and London.
In turn, the Cypriot Airport Board announced the reception of 32 redirected flights from the Middle East, while Wizz Air and Turkish Pegasus canceled flights to Iran, Iraq and Jordan. The Greek carrier suspended flights to Tel Aviv, and the Russian aerofłot modified its connections in the region and suspended the cruises to Iran.
LOT Polish Airlines have announced that they do not use the airspace over Iran during flights to Asia and – as the carrier assured – they are currently carrying out flights to India and other Asian countries in accordance with the current distribution.
