Airlines are avoiding Iranian and Lebanese airspace and canceling flights to Israel and Lebanon as concerns grow over a possible conflict in the region after the killing of senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah this week.
Delta Airlines flights between New York-JFK and Tel Aviv will be paused through Friday, August 9, due to ongoing conflict in the region, Delta announced Wednesday.
Additionally, Arkia airline's decision to pause flights has resulted in hundreds of Israelis being stuck in Prague, unable to leave, according to a Friday morning KAN report.
Italy's ITA Airways is also suspending flights to and from Tel Aviv "due to the geopolitical developments in the Middle East and to ensure the safety of its passengers and crews," the airline said in a statement on its website.
Flights have been suspended until Aug. 6, it added.
Air India, Germany's Lufthansa Group, and United Airlines also suspended flights to Tel Aviv.
A Lufthansa Group flight from Munich to Tel Aviv rerouted to Larnaca, Cyprus on Thursday due to tensions in the region, Jewish News Syndicate reported.
The airline turned around and returned to Munich after giving passengers the option of disembarking in Larnaca. They did not provide any assistance in completing their journey to Israel and said that their luggage would go back with the plane to Munich, JNS reported, citing Channel 12 News.
Flights canceled since strike in the Golan Heights
A number of airlines have canceled or suspended flights as Lebanon braces for retaliation from Israel since a strike on Saturday in the Golan Heights killed 12 children and teenagers. Hezbollah has denied blame.
Singapore Airlines stopped flying through Iranian airspace early Friday morning and is using alternative routes, saying safety is its top priority.
Flightradar24 data showed that Taiwan's EVA Air and China Airlines also appeared to be avoiding Iran airspace on Friday for flights to Amsterdam that had previously flown over Iran.
The airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the route changes.
In a bulletin, OPSGROUP, a membership-based organization that shares flight risk information, advised traffic between Asia and Europe to avoid Iranian and Iraqi airspace, a day after sources told Reuters that top Iranian officials will meet the representatives of Iran's regional allies from Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen to discuss potential retaliation against Israel.
Flightradar24 showed that a Singapore Airlines flight to London Heathrow early on Friday went north of Iran through Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan rather than crossing through Iran as it did the day before.
However, on Friday, a significant number of airlines were still flying over Iran, including United Arab Emirates carriers Etihad, Emirates, and FlyDubai, as well as Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines.
Airlines this week have also been canceling and delaying flights to the Lebanese capital, Beirut, after a strike in the Golan Heights on Saturday. Israel has blamed the attack on Lebanon-based armed group Hezbollah, which denied involvement.
Canada on Thursday issued a notice to Canadian aircraft to avoid Lebanese airspace for one month due to the risk to aviation from military activity.
Britain has, for the past month, advised pilots of potential risks from anti-aircraft weaponry and military activity in Lebanon's airspace.
Should an all-out war break out in the Middle East, OpsGroup said civil aviation will likely face the risk of drones and missiles crossing airways, as well as the increased risk of GPS spoofing—a growing phenomenon around Lebanon and Israel in which militaries and other actors broadcast signals that trick a plane's GPS system into thinking it is somewhere it is not.