The escalation of the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran has disrupted flight schedules around the world, and airline shares fell sharply on the 2nd of March, Reuters reports.
The world’s largest international transport hub, Dubai Airport, and the airport in Qatar’s capital Doha have been closed for a third day, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded at airports. This is the biggest challenge for civil aviation since the coronavirus pandemic. Jordan’s airspace was also partially closed on the 2nd of March.
Oil prices have risen by 7%. The value of shares in Europe’s largest travel services company TUI has fallen by 8.5%, Lufthansa – by 6.5%, while shares in British Airways parent company IAG have lost 4.8% of their value.
Shares in US airlines have fallen by about 5%.
Financial firm B Riley Securities said the ongoing hostilities, which are also causing air traffic disruptions in the region, are likely to dampen travel to affected destinations.
Analysts have cited rising fuel prices, travel cancellations and rerouting costs as key drivers of the pressure, despite the measures taken to mitigate the risk.
One of the most affected European carriers is Wizz Air, which operates extensively in Israel.
Middle Eastern carriers continued to cancel flights on the 1st of March. Flydubai has cancelled all flights to and from Dubai until the afternoon of the 3rd of March. Singapore Airlines will not fly to and from Dubai until the 7th of March, while Japan Airlines has suspended flights on the Tokyo-Doha route.
Independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie said Indian airlines were particularly affected, with the Middle East being used by people travelling to work and India being barred from using Pakistani airspace to fly to Europe. Air India has cancelled flights between India and Zurich, Copenhagen, Birmingham, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Qatar, and said flights to New York and Newark would refuel in Rome.
The air traffic disruptions have affected travellers around the world. Dubai was the world’s busiest airport in 2024, with 94 million passengers. London’s Heathrow Airport handled 81 million passengers that year. Lufthansa has cancelled flights to and from the UAE.
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