Israel briefly reopened its airspace

Reuters

Israel has reopened its airspace briefly and plans to expand rescue flights to help tens of thousands stranded by widespread cancellations following U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

After days of closure due to escalating conflict, Israel’s main airport, Ben Gurion, and Haifa Airport reopened Sunday for limited rescue flights to bring home stranded travelers. Starting Monday, Israel will expand these flights to 24 per day, with each limited to 50 passengers. Israeli airline El Al reported receiving about 25,000 applications to leave the country within a day and will resume service to eight international destinations.

Flight paths over Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Israel remain largely empty as airlines avoid the region due to heightened risks. With Russian and Ukrainian airspace closed amid ongoing war, the Middle East is a critical corridor between Europe and Asia, but carriers are choosing longer, costlier detours via the Caspian Sea or around Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

A flight risk monitoring group, Safe Airspace, warned that U.S. strikes on Iran could increase threats to American operators in the region, citing Iran’s past warnings of retaliatory attacks on U.S. military targets and proxies. This, coupled with missile and drone attacks in conflict zones, has led to broad flight suspensions across affected countries.

Travelers in Israel number nearly 40,000 tourists seeking evacuation, many crossing into neighboring Jordan or Egypt to exit the country. Airlines are also bracing for potential fuel cost increases following the strikes, which could impact ticket prices globally.

The situation remains fluid as regional tensions continue to disrupt civilian air travel across the Middle East.

Tags

Comments (0)

What is your opinion on this topic?

Leave the first comment