The Iranian Civil Aviation Organization announced, on Sunday, the suspension of flights at all airports in Iran.

The Iranian Mehr News Agency reported, “The head of the Iranian Civil Aviation Organization announced the suspension of flights at all airports in Iran from nine o’clock in the evening local time until six o’clock tomorrow morning, Monday.”

International airlines were forced to change the course of their planes to safer routes so that Afghan airspace would be an alternative to Iranian airspace, after an unprecedented escalation of tension in the Middle East region, as a result of Iranian missile attacks on Israel and the latter’s vow to respond.

With increasing expectations of an increase in the severity of the military escalation in the Middle East region, some airline companies had decided to avoid some of the skies in the skies of the Middle East, especially those close to the confrontations between Israel, Iran, and Hezbollah elements in southern Lebanon.

The matter had negative consequences on these companies, as some of them canceled flights and caused chaos at some airports, while other companies changed their flight paths via longer routes, which leads to an increase in financial costs.

Many airlines, such as Swiss Airways, British Airways, German Lufthansa, and others, avoided passing through Iranian airspace, heading instead to Afghan airspace, according to a report published by the British newspaper “The Independent.”

For his part, Ian Pechenik, spokesman for the website FlightRadar24, which specializes in tracking air traffic, said that companies “choose the Afghan route because it is safer, compared to other routes in the Middle East,” noting that this decision is “a balance between risks.” imposed by the situation in the region.

On Thursday, October 3, 2024, 191 international flights crossed Afghan airspace, with airlines paying $700 for each flight.

Airlines were avoiding using Afghan airspace after the Taliban took control in August 2021, as a result of security concerns, in addition to the fact that the international community sought to put pressure on the movement by reducing its revenues from aircraft transit fees.

But this trend declined as risks increased in the region, and companies were forced to look for safer paths.

Attention has also turned to Egyptian airspace, in light of a significant increase in the number of transit flights. The intensity of pressure on Egyptian airspace increased, in response to the sudden increase in the number of flights as a result of the closure of airspace in some neighboring countries and the rerouting of many airline flights to pass through Egyptian airspace.

Air travel in the Middle East region is witnessing a state of anxiety and anticipation against the backdrop of circulating news about the possibility of a large-scale war breaking out between Israel and Iran in the coming days.