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Iran and Iraq close airspace and Israel shuts airport

after

attacks

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Expanding conflict zones burdening airline operations and

profitability

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Six commercial planes unintentionally shot down since 2001

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Osprey Flight Solutions

By Lisa Barrington

SEOUL, June 13 (Reuters) - Airlines cleared out of the

airspace over Israel, Iran and Iraq early on Friday after Israel

launched attacks on targets in Iran, Flightradar24 data showed,

with carriers scrambling to divert and cancel flights to keep

passengers and crew safe.

Proliferating conflict zones around the world are becoming

an increasing burden on airline operations and profitability,

and more of a safety concern.

Six commercial aircraft have been shot down unintentionally

and three nearly missed since 2001, according to aviation risk

consultancy Osprey Flight Solutions.

Israel on Friday said it targeted Iran's nuclear facilities,

ballistic missile factories and military commanders at the start

of what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent

Tehran from building an atomic weapon.

Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further

notice, and Israel's air defence units stood at high alert for

possible retaliatory strikes from Iran.

Israeli flag carrier El Al Airlines said it had

suspended flights to and from Israel.

Iranian airspace has been closed until further notice, state

media reported.

As reports of strikes on Iran emerged, a number of

commercial flights by airlines including Dubai's Emirates,

Lufthansa and Air India were flying over Iran.

Emirates, Lufthansa and Air India did not immediately

respond to requests for comment.

Iraq early on Friday closed its airspace and suspended all

traffic at its airports, Iraqi state media reported.

Eastern Iraq near the border with Iran contains one of the

world's busiest air corridors, with dozens of flights crossing

between Europe and the Gulf, many on routes from Asia to Europe,

at any one moment.

Flights steadily diverted over Central Asia or Saudi Arabia,

flight tracking data showed.

"The situation is still emerging - operators should use a

high degree of caution in the region at this time," according to

Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based

organisation that shares flight risk information.

Several flights due to land in Dubai were diverted early on

Friday. An Emirates flight from Manchester to Dubai was diverted

to Istanbul and a flydubai flight from Belgrade diverted to

Yerevan, Armenia.

Budget carrier flydubai said it had suspended flights to

Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Iran and Israel and a number of other

flights had been cancelled, rerouted or returned to their

departure airports.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East since

October 2023 led to commercial aviation sharing the skies with

short-notice barrages of drones and missiles across major flight

paths - some of which were reportedly close enough to be seen by

pilots and passengers.

Last year, planes were shot down by weaponry in Kazakhstan

and in Sudan. These incidents followed the high-profile downing

of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014

and of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 en route from

Tehran in 2020.