TEHRAN, (Reuters): Iran reopened its airspace after a closure of nearly five hours, imposed amid concerns over possible military action between the United States and Iran, which forced airlines to cancel, divert or delay several flights. Iran closed its airspace to all flights, except authorised international arrivals and departures, at 5:15pm ET (2215 GMT) on Wednesday, according to a notice on the US Federal Aviation Administration website.
The notice was withdrawn shortly before 10pm ET (0300 GMT), flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said. At a similar time last week to the airspace closure there had been dozens of planes in the air over Iran, Flightradar24 said.
The temporary closure came as President Donald Trump has been weighing a response to the situation in Iran, which is seeing its biggest anti-government protests in years. Western military official told Reuters on Wednesday that “all the signals are that a US attack is imminent”.
The official added: “[…] but that is also how this administration behaves to keep everyone on their toes. Unpredictability is part of the strategy.”Two European officials said US military intervention could come in the next 24 hours.
An Israeli official also said it appeared Trump had decided to intervene, though the scope and timing remained unclear. The United States was withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a US official said on Wednesday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbours it would hit American bases if Washington strikes.
Missile and drone barrages in a growing number of conflict zones represent a high risk to airline traffic. India’s largest airline, IndiGo said some of its international flights would be impacted by Iran’s sudden airspace closure. A flight by Russia’s Aeroflot bound for Tehran returned to Moscow after the closure, according to tracking data from Flightradar24.
Earlier on Wednesday, Germany issued a new directive cautioning the country’s airlines from entering Iranian airspace, shortly after Lufthansa rejigged its flight operations across the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region. The United States already prohibits all US commercial flights from overflying Iran and there are no direct flights between the countries .Airline operators like flydubai and Turkish Airlines have cancelled multiple flights to Iran in the past week.”Several airlines have already reduced or suspended services, and most carriers are avoiding Iranian airspace,” said Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organisation that shares flight risk information.”The situation may signal further security or military activity, including the risk of missile launches or heightened air defence, increasing the risk of misidentification of civil traffic.”Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace until further notice while it would only operate day flights to Tel Aviv and Amman from Wednesday until Monday next week so that crew would not have to stay overnight.
Some flights could also be cancelled as a result of these actions, it added in a statement. Italian carrier ITA Airways, in which Lufthansa Group is now a major shareholder, said that it would similarly suspend night flights to Tel Aviv until Tuesday next week.
