Iran's airspace briefly reopened Thursday after being shut without explanation for nearly five hours and causing widespread disruption across international aviation networks. The sudden closure brought airlines worldwide to reroute flights, a further illustration of why Iran is still one of the most strategically important airspaces for global carriers.
A key east-west aviation corridor
Iran lies at the heart of the main Europe-Asia air corridor, constituting the central link between Europe and South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. To the airlines, flying over Iran means the most direct great-circle routes, which equate to shorter journey times and considerable fuel savings.
Airlines are forced to detour north or south when Iranian airspace is closed, commonly adding several hours to flight lengths and seriously jacking up operating expenses. The inefficiencies spill over into crew schedules, aircraft rotations, and general network efficiencies.
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Immediate Impact on Airlines
On Thursday, international carriers routed flights around Iran until the restriction seemed to lift. Several domestic Iranian flights took to the air shortly after 7 am local time, indicating that the closure applied only to commercial international operations.
IndiGo stated that some of its international flights were affected by disruptions, while Air India mentioned that some of its flights were being rerouted along different routes, which may cause delays or even cancellations. These two carriers operate several long-haul flights between the East and West. As a result, they have a vested interest in any extended range.
Airlines in Europe also operate with caution. The German government followed up by issuing a warning that it strongly advised its carriers not to use Iranian airspace. Lufthansa made changes in its Middle Eastern route network because of rising tensions. Currently, Iranian and US carriers have not established any direct flights because flights over Iranian airspace remain banned in the United States.
A history that raises safety concerns
Iranian airspace remains a high-risk environment because of a previous incident. Ukraine Airlines PS752 was downed by Iran's air defences over Iranian airspace in 2020. The incident resulted in the loss of 176 individuals aboard. Initially, Iran rejected accusations that it was responsible. Later, it came clean about having made a mistake. Iran's airspace has repeatedly demonstrated how geopolitics could spill into civilian flight. Not long ago, in a 12-day clash with Israel, Tehran shut its skies-a vivid reminder that regional tensions can upend international aviation in an instant.
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Rising regional tensions
The new surge in risk arrived even as US-Iran frictions were growing. News of precautionary withdrawals from US military sites in Qatar and Kuwait fed airline concerns about safety and routes. President Trump on Wednesday suggested that any immediate military action against Iran may be on hold, offering few specifics while addressing reporters at the White House.
Trump said he had been informed that planned executions in Iran had been halted, though he did not share details or confirm the source of the information. His remarks marked a shift from comments made a day earlier, when he told protesters in Iran that “help is on the way” and indicated that his administration would respond to what it described as a deadly crackdown by the Islamic Republic.
"They've said the killing has stopped, and the executions won't take place-there were supposed to be a lot of executions today, and that the executions won't take place - and we're going to find out," AFP quoted Trump as saying.
