DISRUPTION OF GLOBAL AVIATION ENTERS THIRD DAY WITH AIRPORT AND AIRSPACE CLOSURES

By Kisho Kumari Sucedaram

KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 (Bernama) – As the war in the Middle East enters its third day, global aviation continues to be disrupted with commercial flights across the region remaining at a standstill, as major airports continue to be closed and regional airspace restricted, resulting in a mind-boggling 2,000 flights being cancelled.

The attack by the United States and Israel on Iran on Saturday followed by retaliation by Teheran on several regional countries have also affected airlines in Malaysia with many still having suspended flights to key airports in the region.

At the time of writing, flights to and from seven key airports in the Gulf area, namely Dubai International Airport, Hamad International Airport, Zayed International Airport, Sharjah International Airport, Kuwait International Airport, Bahrain International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport have been cancelled.

According to FlightRadar24, Israel, Iran, Syria, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait have closed their airspaces since Feb 28, while Lebanon and Jordan are open but with limited flight activity; United Arab Emirates (UAE) technically open, but no flight activity due to restrictions; Afghanistan is open, but warning due to recent airstrikes by Pakistan; and Pakistan is open with warnings due to recent airstrikes on Afghanistan.

In Abu Dhabi, the regional airspace closures continue to impact Etihad Airways’ operations, and all flights to and from Abu Dhabi are suspended until 14:00 UAE time on March 3.

However, FlightRadar24 shows the first passenger flight just took off from Abu Dhabi.

Meanwhile, Hamad International Airport stated that flight operations at the airport remain temporarily suspended and will resume once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe reopening of Qatari airspace.

“Passengers are advised not to proceed to the airport,” it said in its recent X posting today. 

A Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) has been issued that Jordan’s airspace will be closed daily between 1500 and 0600 UTC until March 5. The airspace closure comes into effect today at UTC 1500 (1800, local time in Jordan).

FlightRadar24 said NOTAMs closing airspace in the region has been extended multiple times and as of today, Saudi Arabia's notice for closure expires on March 3, while Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Syria and UAE expires today.

However, Oman airspace remains open for now, and all other airports in Oman remain open.

As for airlines, Emirates has temporarily suspended all operations to and from Dubai, up until 1500 hours UAE time on March 3 due to multiple regional airspace closures.

According to Emirates in its X posting today, the situation remains dynamic and is assessed continuously.

The airline urges passengers to review the latest operational updates on http://emirates.com and check their email for any notifications about changes or cancellations to their flights before travelling to the airport.

Saudia has also cancelled flights to and from Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Moscow and Bahrain until today. 

Oman Air has also cancelled flights to Dubai, Bahrain and Kuwait.

Turkish Airlines cancelled all flights to and from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, the UAE and Syria.

Back home, Malaysia Airlines has extended its suspension of all flights to and from Doha (DOH), Jeddah (JED), and Madinah (MED) until March 4, following the cancellations implemented from Feb 28 to March 1.

Batik Air has cancelled today’s scheduled service between Kuala Lumpur and Dubai, while flights operated by Thai AirAsia X to and from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia have also been cancelled.

Similarly, Air India and Garuda Indonesia also suspended all flights to and from the Gulf region. 

Besides that, European airlines such as British Airways, KLM, Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines, Eurowings, Austrian Airlines, ITA Airways and Brussels Airlines have suspended flights until March 8. 

Singapore-based Sobie Aviation independent analyst and consultant Brendan Sobie told Bernama that the current conflict obviously has an impact globally, but it is the Middle East carriers most impacted.

“Both yield and load factors will likely go up on Asian carriers flying to Europe routes during this crisis, more than offsetting the higher costs,” he said. 

Nevertheless, he emphasised that these developments were bad for the global aviation industry.

-- BERNAMA