Nigerians travelling with Emirates, Qatar and Etihad may pay higher as airlines re-route flights away from Iran and Iraq’s airspace following an Iranian missile strike on United States-led forces in Iraq.
Major airlines across the world on Wednesday cancelled Iran and Iraq flights and re-routed others away from both countries’ airspace.
Germany’s Lufthansa, Dubai-based Emirates and flydubai were among airlines that cancelled flights, as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) barred American carriers from the area. But several other carriers continued operations over the affected airspace.
Industry analysts say airlines flying those routes from Nigeria may soon follow suit.
Tayo Ojuri, chief executive officer, Aglow Limited, an aviation support services company, said 80 percent of passenger traffic in Nigeria are international flights. The current situation, he said, would cause the Middle East carriers such as Qatar, Emirates and Etihad to re-route their flights to get to various destinations. This development would cause these airlines to fly longer routes, thereby costing them more aviation fuel and time to various destinations. If this continues, he said, it would lead to a situation where passengers would begin to pay more and spend more time getting to various destinations.
“For instance, Qatar has been blocked from passing through other countries for over a year now, so they pass through Iran. This may be the only airline that will be flying through Iran or look for somewhere else to pass through,” Ojuri said.
Iran fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles from its territory targeting at least two Iraqi military bases hosting US-led coalition personnel early on Wednesday, the US military said.
Within hours, the FAA barred US carriers from airspace over Iran, the Gulf of Oman and the waters between Iran and Saudi Arabia, citing “heightened military activities and increased political tensions in the Middle East, which present an inadvertent risk to U.S. civil aviation operations”.
The flight ban came shortly before a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 burst into flames shortly after take-off from Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard in a crash blamed by Ukrainian authorities on an engine failure.
Non-US operators are not bound by the FAA’s flight ban, but they and other regulators consider its advice carefully when deciding where to fly. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is studying the situation, a spokeswoman said.
Airlines have taken more steps to avoid flying over conflict zones since 2014, when Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was downed by a missile fired from Ukraine, killing 298 people. But re-routing increases flight times and burns extra fuel.
Australia’s Qantas Airways said on Wednesday it would add 50 minutes to its Perth-London flight time and cut passenger numbers to carry more fuel as it re-routes around Iran and Iraq.
The FAA had already prohibited US carriers from Iranian airspace and flying below 26,000 feet over Iraq, after Iran shot down a high-altitude US drone last June.
Lufthansa has stopped flying over Iran and Iraq and cancelled its daily service to Tehran as well as the next scheduled flight to Erbil, Iraq, the airline said on Wednesday.
Air France-KLM, which halted flights to the Iranian capital in 2018, said it was also suspending Air France flights through Iranian and Iraqi airspace “as a precautionary measure”.
British Airways said a small number of its flights would be affected by re-routing, without elaborating. Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines Ltd, Malaysia Airlines, Air Canada and Taiwan’s China Airlines were also among carriers that re-routed flights.
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