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British Airways and Singapore Airlines have cancelled flights to Dubai after the US struck three nuclear sites in Iran, adding to widespread recent disruption to air travel as carriers avoid conflict zones in the Middle East.
More than 150 carriers including Air France-KLM, American Airlines and Japan Airlines had already diverted or suspended flights after airspace over Israel, Iraq and Jordan was closed due to the war between Israel and Iran.
Donald Trump’s decision to strike Iran on Saturday — which comes just over a week after Israel launched missiles at Tehran — has escalated the conflict in the Middle East and brings the risk of Iranian retaliation against the US.
For airlines, analysts have said the latest disruption adds to challenges for European carriers in particular, as they were already avoiding Russian airspace for flights to Asia because of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
One British Airways flight that left London Heathrow for Dubai at 9:53pm on Saturday was diverted and landed in Zurich after nine hours, according to data from Flightradar24, the air traffic tracking website.
Flights to Doha were also cancelled on Saturday, while all BA flights to Dubai and Doha were suspended on Sunday. The UK carrier had already paused flights to Bahrain until June 30.
“As a result of recent events, we have adjusted our flight schedule to ensure the safety of our customers and crew,” BA said.
Singapore Airlines said it cancelled two flights between Singapore and Dubai on Sunday following “a security assessment of the geopolitical situation in the Middle East”.
There have been more than 3,000 flight cancellations a day in the Middle East since the Israel-Iran war broke out, according to Flightradar24. Its data showed airspace broadly clear over Iran, Iraq and Syria, with flights instead being rerouted across Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Just days ahead of the strikes, American Airlines, United Airlines and Finnair had all cancelled flights to either Doha or Dubai.
Earlier on Sunday, Israel closed its airspace but local carrier Arkia said it planned to resume rescue flights to bring back Israelis stranded abroad once its airspace reopened at 2pm, according to the Times of Israel.
Flightradar24 said that commercial air traffic in the Middle East had not shown further signs of disruption after the US bombings.
“Following US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, commercial traffic in the region is operating as it has since new airspace restrictions were put into place last week,” it said on social media.