Austrian Airlines announced that flights to Amman, Erbil and Tel Aviv would be suspended on Friday as a “precautionary measure”. The security situation is being reassessed, said an AUA spokeswoman. Flights to and from Tehran had already been suspended until April 30th.
Iran was attacked with drones on Friday night. According to insiders, Israel is behind the attack. According to Iranian state media, three drones were shot down over the city of Isfahan in the center of the country.
“Austrian Airlines continuously monitors and assesses the security situation in the Middle East and is in close contact with the authorities. The safety of passengers and crews is always the top priority,” emphasized the spokeswoman. The German AUA parent Lufthansa is also canceling all flights to Tel Aviv in Israel and Erbil in Iraq until 7 a.m. on Saturday. During this time, Iraqi airspace will be flown around, the German airline announced on Friday. When assessing the security situation, Lufthansa does not rely on government assessments, but rather makes its own decisions.
Airports closed
Other airlines are also reacting to the developments. According to the website FlightRadar24, Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan airports in Iran were temporarily closed. In addition, air traffic in the western part of the country was suspended for a few hours. Airports and airspace were reopened in the morning.
Before the airspace was reopened, Flydubai announced that it would cancel flights to Iran on Friday. One of the earlier flights returned to Dubai. An Iran Air connection from Rome to Tehran was diverted to the Turkish capital Ankara, according to FlightRadar24 data.
Many airlines had already rescheduled before the new escalation. Australia’s Quantas announced on Saturday that it would change the flight route between Perth and London because of the conflict in the Middle East and add a refueling stop in Singapore to avoid Iranian airspace.
