Iran has reopened its airspace after closing it for around five hours amid concerns over possible military action between the United States and Iran, forcing airlines to cancel flights, reroute others, or delay some services.
اضافة اعلان
A notice on the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s website had stated that Iran temporarily closed its airspace to all flights, except for international flights to and from the country with official authorization, starting at 22:15 GMT on Wednesday.
The notice was lifted shortly before 03:00 GMT, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24, which showed that five flights operated by Iranian airlines were among the first to resume over the country.
The temporary closure occurred at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump is considering options to address the situation in Iran, which has been witnessing its largest anti-government protests in years.
In a related development, a U.S. official said on Wednesday that the United States is withdrawing some personnel from its bases in the Middle East, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned its neighbors that it would target U.S. bases if Iran were subjected to an American strike.
The increasing use of missiles and drones in conflict zones poses a major risk to air traffic.
India’s largest airline, IndiGo, announced that some of its international flights would be affected by the sudden closure of Iranian airspace.
Meanwhile, a Russian Aeroflot flight bound for Tehran returned to Moscow following the closure, according to FlightRadar24 data.
Germany also issued new guidance on Wednesday warning airlines in the country against entering Iranian airspace, shortly after Lufthansa rescheduled its flights through the Middle East amid rising regional tensions.
The United States already bans all U.S. commercial flights from flying over Iran, and there are no direct flights between the two countries.
Several airlines, including flydubai and Turkish Airlines, canceled a number of flights to Iran last week.
Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it will avoid flying over Iranian and Iraqi airspace until further notice, noting that some flights may be canceled as a result of these measures. — (Reuters)
