President Donald Trump has been weighing a response to the situation in Iran, which is seeing its biggest anti-government protests in years
Iran closed its airspace temporarily to most flights late on Wednesday, forcing airlines to cancel, reroute or delay some flights, amid concerns about possible military action between the United States and Iran.
Iran said in a notice posted by the US Federal Aviation Administration that it had closed its airspace to all flights except international ones to and from Iran with official permission at 5:15 p.m. ET (2215 GMT). The prohibition was set to last for more than two hours until an estimated 7:30 p.m. ET, or 0030 GMT, but it later was extended until an estimated 10:30 p.m. ET or 0330 GMT.
Iranian airspace was empty of civilian airplanes at 8:30 p.m. ET except for one Mahan Air flight traveling to Tehran from Shenzhen, China, according to tracking data from Flightradar24.
President Donald Trump has been weighing a response to the situation in Iran, which is seeing its biggest anti-government protests in years.
The United States was withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a US official said on Wednesday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbors it would hit American bases if Washington strikes.
Missile and drone barrages in a growing number of conflict zones represent a high risk to airline traffic.
India’s largest airline, IndiGo said some of its international flights would be impacted by Iran’s sudden airspace closure. Air India said its flights were using alternative routes that could result in delays or cancellations.
A flight by Russia’s Aeroflot bound for Tehran returned to Moscow after the closure, according to Flightradar24 data.
Earlier on Wednesday, Germany issued a new directive cautioning the country’s airlines from entering Iranian airspace, shortly after Lufthansa rejigged its flight operations across the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region.
The United States already prohibits all US commercial flights from overflying Iran and there are no direct flights between the countries.
Airline operators like flydubai and Turkish Airlines have canceled multiple flights to Iran in the past week.
“Several airlines have already reduced or suspended services, and most carriers are avoiding Iranian airspace,” said Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organisation that shares flight risk information. “The situation may signal further security or military activity, including the risk of missile launches or heightened air defence, increasing the risk of misidentification of civil traffic.” A Ukraine International Airlines jet was downed by Iran’s military in 2020, killing all 176 passengers and crew.
Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace until further notice while it would only operate day flights to Tel Aviv and Amman from Wednesday until Monday next week so that crew would not have to stay overnight.
Some flights could also be canceled as a result of these actions, it added in a statement.
Italian carrier ITA Airways, in which Lufthansa Group is now a major shareholder, said that it would similarly suspend night flights to Tel Aviv until Tuesday next week.
