Rising tensions in the Middle East have created air travel chaos, with global airlines diverting or cancelling flights on Wednesday and regional airports, including Lebanon, Israel and Kuwait, showing long delays, according to FlightRadar24 data.
Passengers queue at the check-in counters at Beirut-Rafic Al Hariri International Airport, in Beirut, Lebanon October 2, 2024. Reuters/Yara Abi Nader
Rising tensions in the Middle East have created air travel chaos, with global airlines diverting or cancelling flights on Wednesday and regional airports, including Lebanon, Israel and Kuwait, showing long delays, according to FlightRadar24 data.
Concern over travel disruption as the conflict intensifies also knocked shares in the travel and airline sectors on Wednesday morning.
Iran launched its largest missile attack against Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel's campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, triggering a threat from Israel of a "painful response".
On Wednesday morning, a few flights were seen over Iranian airspace, according to a FlightRadar24 map, including from carrier flydubai, after Iran said its ballistic missile attack on Israel was over.
However, flights across the entire region were diverted or disrupted with little sign of broader normalisation.
Carriers around the world have cancelled flights to Israel and Lebanon in the wake of the escalating conflict, with many saying they won't resume until at least mid-October, depending on the security situation.
Both British Airways and Air France-KLM said their flight cancellations to Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport remained in place until at least early next week, including the Oct. 7 one-year anniversary of Hamas' attack on Israel.
AIRPORT IMPACT
Traffic over the Istanbul, Cairo and Antalya hubs remained dense as flights continued to avoid parts of Middle Eastern airspace.
Dubai International Airport reported 85% of its departing flights as delayed, while Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport had 60% of its flights cancelled, according to the airline tracker.
At Kuwait International Airport, 67% of arriving flights were delayed.
The latest disruptions are expected to deal a further blow to an industry already facing a host of restrictions due to conflicts between Israel and Hamas, and Russia and Ukraine.
Reporting by Joanna Plucinska
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun chaired a high-level meeting Tuesday with Army Commander General Rudolf Hage and members of the advisory team accompanying Lebanon's delegation to the Washington negotiations, as the fifth round of Lebanese-American-Israeli talks enters what he described as a potentially decisive phase.
Lebanon and Israel began a new round of talks on Tuesday in Washington, with Beirut determined to press ahead with direct negotiations even as they appear to be overshadowed by Iran's decision to make Lebanon part of its talks with the U.S.
Iranian chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf declared this week that the United States and Iran would jointly "guarantee Lebanon's unity and the integrity of its territories."
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