Which airlines have cancelled flights to the Middle East, and is Amman affected?
Which airlines have cancelled flights to the Middle East, and is Amman affected?
Several airlines have recently cancelled or suspended flights to the Middle East due to escalating tensions between Iran and Israel.
2 min read
Several airlines have suspended their routes to Amman's Queen Alia International Airport [Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images]
The suspension of flight routes to the Middle East have spread to Amman and Erbil as regional tension mounts over an expected Iranian strike on Israel.
Flights to Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan, have recently seen cancellations from several airlines, including the Lufthansa Group, Vueling, Aegean Airlines and Tarom.
According to a press statement released by Lufthansa, flights to Erbil by the company and its subsidiaries, which include Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Discover Airlines, Eurowings and Swiss International Air Lines, have also been cancelled.
Additionally, the company has cancelled its flights to Beirut, Tehran and Tel Aviv until 21 August.
The cancellations to Amman and Erbil are an extension of the cancellations that plagued Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport and Beirut's Rafic Hariri airport in recent weeks.
Air India, United Airlines, and Delta have suspended their routes to Tel Aviv through August, with Cathay Pacific suspending its flights to the airport through to 27 March 2025.
Beirut has suffered cancellations from Tarom until 16 August, Sunexpress until 14 August and Aegean Airlines until 19 August.
Airlines have also extended flight cancellations since tension rapidly rose in late July. On Wednesday AirFrance and its subsidiary Transavia, which had cancelled flights until 31 August, announcedÌýit would resume flights to Beirut from Thursday.
Airspace has also become an issue, with Singapore Airlines saying that they've stopped flights over Iranian airspace, and the UK advising its airlines not to enter Lebanese airspace until November due to military activity.
The suspension of routes to the Middle East comes amid increased tension in the region over an expected Iranian retaliation to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on 31 July.
As well as airlines, diplomats have been also scrambling as a result of the tension, with the US and regional countries attempting to restrain an Iranian retaliation that could see the country fire ballistic missiles at Israel.
In April numerous international airlines suspended flights to Tel Aviv and other airports in the Middle East in anticipation of a similar retaliatory attack that saw Iran fire around 300 missiles and drones at Israel.
Diplomats have also been attempting to cool the Israel-Lebanon border as the region braces for retaliation from Hezbollah after an Israeli airstrike killed senior member Fuad Shukr on 30 July.
In 2006 a war between Israel and Hezbollah that lasted 34 days saw Israel strike Beirut's airport, putting it out of action.
(Editor's note: This article was updated on 14 August at 12pm GMT to reflect changes in airline policies.)
Ìý
