Your vacation could change course: how the Iran-Israel conflict impacts flights from the US

Airlines are dealing with yet another situation that can put their planes, passengers and crews in danger, forcing them to reroute their flights. When hostilities broke out between Israel and Iran on 13 June carriers imposed a new no-fly zone over the belligerent parties as well as Iraq which is caught in the middle of the two.

This new no-fly zone adds to the other gapping hole over Ukraine that appears on maps that track flows of air traffic, which has been in place since Russia invaded the nation in February 2022. The change to flight paths is adding hours onto flights as well as increasing the cost of operating them.

Your flight plan has changed: Airlines deal with airspace closures

Air traffic between Europe and Asia is now concentrated into two narrow corridors north and south of the newest combat zone in order to stay out of harm’s way. Flying around the conflict has added two hours to nonstop flights between Hong Kong and London reports CNN.

Tony Stanton, consultant director of Strategic Air, told the outlet that that means burning more fuel which costs money giving “a rough estimate” of around $7,000 per hour in the case of a Boeing 777. But that isn’t the only cost to the airlines.

They also have to pay the crew for the extra time in the air as well as new charges to overfly different airspace. Add to that costs for delays and cancellations as they adapt to evolving situations on the ground.

Take for example British Airways cancelling flights to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The airline turned around a flight destined for Dubai after it had already flown 5,000 miles when the US attacked Iran. The plane wasn’t able to make it all the way back to London and had to land in Zurich instead.

“Airspace closures have become quite common,” Brendan Sobie, a Singapore-based aviation consultant told CNN. “It’s almost like the new normal for airlines to have to navigate this kind of thing,” he added.

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