The closure of the airspace over the southern part of Azerbaijan after the Iranian drone attack puts additional pressure on airlines that must respond to disruptions caused by the war in the Persian Gulf, writes the BBC.
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Air traffic in the Middle East, a region that is an important hub for the global aviation industry, has been severely disrupted following the US and Israeli attack on Iran.
An Iranian drone attack on Azerbaijan, a small country in Central Asia, has made the problem worse — resulted in flights over the country's territory being limited to a narrow corridor in the north.
The Flightradar24 map shows traffic volumes in a strip about 100 km wide in the north of Azerbaijan, a country about the size of Portugal.
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Flightradar24.com / Own materials
Flights to the Middle East and beyond. “Limited range of possibilities”
Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have long been tense, with Baku's close relationship with Tel Aviv drawing the ire of Tehran.
Aviation expert John Strickland told the BBC that airlines now have “very limited range of possibilities”.
Western airlines have had to avoid Russian airspace since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Now all flights are also avoiding Iranian and Iraqi airspace, looking for alternative routes.
Airlines are looking for alternative routes
The closure of the airspace over the southern part of Azerbaijan puts additional pressure on carriers.
Gulf airlines have started operating more flights from the United Arab Emirates and Oman, helping to evacuate stranded passengers, but capacity remains well below normal levels, said Opsgroup, which provides risk intelligence to the industry.
— The central corridor through Iran, Iraq and the Persian Gulf is virtually closed, so most traffic goes either north through the Caucasus and Afghanistan, or south through Egypt/Saudi Arabia/Oman David Mumford, international operations specialist at Opsgroup, told the BBC.
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PAP/Michał Czernek / PAP/photos
“Both routes are longer and more crowded than usual, which translates into longer flight times and higher fuel consumption,” he added.
He estimated that there would likely be “traffic jams” during rush hours. This represents “another major hurdle for airline planning.”
Airlines under the pressure of war. The worst-case scenario is an “air wall”
Any further incidents in Azerbaijan will be the subject of close attention, David Kaminski, air transport editor at specialist news site Flight Global, told the BBC.
Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet republic, is a small but strategically important country bordering Russia, Iran, Armenia and Georgia.
Dragging this country into conflict could result in… airlines will face the air equivalent of a 'brick wall from Saudi Arabia to northern Russia' – Kaminski said. “The disruption would be huge.”
Source: BBC, Business Insider Polska
