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
The United States is urging Lebanon to elect a new president "in the coming days" following significant Israeli airstrikes that have reportedly "weakened Hezbollah’s command and infrastructure," according to U.S. news outlet Axios.
With Israel poised to attack Iran, having already blindsided friends and foes alike with its blitz against Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, all the talk is of an inexorable slide towards a new, pan-Middle Eastern war.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is unrepentant about the Oct. 7 attacks a year ago, people in contact with him say, despite unleashing an Israeli invasion that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, laid waste to his Gaza homeland and rained destruction on ally Hezbollah.
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