Nearly 80 flights had to be diverted on Tuesday due to the conflict in the Middle East, reports a Times of Israel. After Iran’s missile attack on Israel, four Emirates flights landed in Budapest, the planes departed from Dublin, Düsseldorf, Nice and Prague to Dubai and returned to Budapest over Turkey. More than 1,200 passengers were on board the four planes.
Due to Tuesday’s events, nearly 80 flights – mainly Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa and Qatar Airways – had to be diverted, primarily to Cairo and major European cities. The rerouting of flights left Istanbul and Antalya in southern Turkey congested, forcing some airlines to divert flights south, according to FlightRadar24. We contacted Budapest Airport to find out how the conflict in the Middle East affects traffic at Liszt Ferenc Airport.
Update: In response to our inquiry, Budapest Airport wrote that the airport is not aware of delays arising from the conflict, but some airlines have canceled flights between Tel Aviv and Budapest.
The Airportal saysthe four flights continued their journey to Dubai between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. Wednesday, after taking on the necessary fuel, avoiding the airspace affected by the conflict through the airspace of Egypt and Saudi Arabia instead of the usual route.
After Tuesday’s attack, Israeli airspace, Ben Gurion Airport, and the airports of Israel’s neighboring countries were closed. Iran has also announced that it will extend the closure of its airspace until Thursday morning in order to ensure flight safety – reports CNN based on a Wednesday report by the semi-official news agency Mehr News.
Airspace in both Iraq and Jordan was closed on Tuesday evening, but the Iraqi Ministry of Transport has since announced that it has reopened to civilian flights arriving and departing from Iraqi airports. THE FlightRadar24 however, he wrote that “it will be some time before flights are active again” in Iraq. The Jordanian state news agency also reported on the opening of its airspace.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Iran fired 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday. According to an Iranian statement, the strike was ordered by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, and Tehran is ready to retaliate. An IDF spokesman said there would be consequences for the Iranian attack.
Israel carried out at least five airstrikes on the capital of Lebanon early Wednesday, the Israeli army attacked the southern suburbs of Beirut because it is one of the strongholds of the Iran-backed Hezbollah. We are constantly following the events in the Middle East, you can read our live broadcast here.
