Egypt and Britain have urged their airlines to avoid the airspace of both Iran and Lebanon amid rising concerns about the potential for a wider conflict in the region following the killing of senior leaders from Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah group. The British guidelines for its airlines to avoid Lebanese airspace came just hours after Egypt issued instructions for all its airlines to avoid Iranian airspace for three hours on Thursday morning. Many airlines are currently reviewing their schedules to avoid Iranian and Lebanese airspace, while some are canceling flights to Israel and Lebanon.
According to the flight tracking site FlightRadar24, there are currently no scheduled flights operated by British airlines to Lebanon. Similarly, Egyptian airlines have already begun to avoid Iranian airspace. However, Mark Zee, founder of OPS Group, a company that shares flight risk information, stated that the notice issued on Thursday will apply to all Egyptian airlines, including charter and smaller airlines. He added that so far no other country has issued similar guidance regarding Iranian airspace.
The Egyptian notice for pilots, a safety alert provided to pilots on Wednesday, stated that the instructions would be effective from 01:00 to 04:00 GMT. The notice did not specify the reason for its issuance. It read: "All Egyptian carriers are to avoid flying over the Tehran Flight Information Region. No flight will be accepted to fly over this region," indicating the specified three-hour timeframe.
The Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation later confirmed that the notice aims to reduce risks to flight safety in light of the notification it received from Iranian authorities. The ministry’s statement mentioned that "military exercises will take place in Iranian airspace on August 7 from 11:30 to 14:30 and from 04:30 to 07:30 on August 8, Tehran time."
The state-owned "Cairo" news channel reported on Wednesday that an official Egyptian source indicated Tehran advised global civil aviation companies to avoid flying through Iranian airspace due to "military training." According to the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s website, Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani spoke by phone with the Egyptian Foreign Minister on Wednesday. The Jordanian authorities also requested on Sunday that all airlines arriving at their airports carry extra fuel sufficient for 45 minutes. Earlier this year, several countries in the Middle East, including Jordan, closed their airspaces amid air attacks on Israel.
