PARIS, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Israel's neighbours closed

airspace and airline crews skirted an escalating conflict, with

many seeking diversions, after Iran fired a salvo of ballistic

missiles at Israel on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for tracking service FlightRadar24 said

flights diverted "anywhere they could", and a snapshot of

regional traffic showed flights spreading in wide arcs to the

north and south, with many converging on Cairo and Istanbul.

FlightRadar24 said Istanbul and Antalya in southern Turkey

were becoming congested, forcing some airlines to divert south.

On Tuesday, about 80 flights, operated by the likes of

Emirates, British Airways, Lufthansa, Qatar

Airways and bound for major Middle East hubs such as Dubai, Doha

and Abu Dhabi, were diverted to places such as Cairo and

European cities, its data showed.

Many airlines have also suspended flights to the region or

are avoiding use of affected air space.

Iran launched the strikes in retaliation for Israel's

campaign against Tehran's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon, and

Israel vowed a "painful response" against its enemy.

Earlier, Eurocontrol, a pan-European air traffic control

agency, had warned pilots of the escalating conflict.

"A major missile attack has been launched against Israel in

the last few minutes," it said in an urgent navigation bulletin.

"At present the entire country is under a missile warning."

Shortly afterwards it announced the closure of Jordanian and

Iraqi airspace, as well as the closure of a key crossing point

into airspace controlled by Cyprus.

An Iraqi pilot bulletin said its Baghdad-controlled airspace

was closed until further notice, due to security concerns.

Iraq's transport ministry later re-opened its airspace to

civilian flights using its airports. On X, FlightRadar24 said,

"It will be a while before flights are active there again."

Jordan also re-opened its airspace after a closure following

the volley of Iranian missiles towards Israel, the Jordanian

state news agency said.

Lebanon's airspace will be closed to air traffic for a

two-hour period on Tuesday, Transport Minister Ali Hamie said on

X.

The latest disruptions are expected to deal a further blow

to an industry already face curbs due to conflicts between

Israel and Hamas, and Russia and Ukraine.