Rising tensions in West Asia have created air travel chaos, with global airlines diverting or cancelling flights on Wednesday and regional airports, including Lebanon, Israel and Kuwait, showing long delays, according to FlightRadar24 data.
Concern over travel disruption as the conflict intensifies also knocked shares in the travel and airline sectors, with shares in Europe's largest travel operator TUI falling nearly 5 per cent on the day and Lufthansa down 4.4 per cent.
"At the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Gaza conflict last year there was a weakening of demand for travel across the board in Europe, which eased after a couple of weeks," said Andrew Lobbenberg, an analyst at Barclays.
Iran launched its largest missile attack against Israel on Tuesday in retaliation for Israel's campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, prompting a threat from Israel of a "painful response".
On Wednesday afternoon, flights were seen over Iranian airspace, according to a FlightRadar24 map, including from carrier flydubai and Wizz Air, after Iran said its ballistic missile attack on Israel was over.
However, flights across the entire region were diverted or disrupted with little sign of broader normalisation, with some changing their routes to avoid certain airspace.
Air India flights
An Air India official on Wednesday said it assesses all flights daily for any security or safety risks whether it is in West Asia or any other part of its route network.
"Adjustments are made, if required, to avoid areas of risk with minimal impact on our non-stop operations. The situation is being monitored closely," the official said.
Air India has already suspended flights to Tel Aviv (Israel) till further notice.
Reuters