Flight chaos in the Middle East as routes are cancelled or diverted

Flight chaos in the Middle East - British Airways was just one airline to cancel flights citing passenger safety

With tensions rising in the Middle East, several airlines are now cancelling or diverting planes.

On Saturday night, a British Airways flight from Heathrow to Dubai turned around over Saudi Arabia, just 90 minutes from its destination, and re-routed to Zurich. On Sunday, BA cancelled all flights from Heathrow to Dubai and Doha, leaving some passengers stranded in the Middle East.

According to a BA spokesperson, the airline is contacting customers to advise them of their options during this developing situation. Customers travelling to Doha or Dubai from Heathrow between Sunday June 22 and Tuesday June 24 are being given the option to rebook without charge. 

On Monday, BA cancelled a 12.50pm departure to Dubai and a 1.45pm service to Doha, although all other flights appeared to be running.

On Monday, Singapore Airlines announced it would be suspending all flights between Singapore and Dubai until Wednesday June 25. The cancellations followed “a security assessment of the geopolitical situation in the Middle East,” according to the airline. Flights affected include SQ494 and SQ495.

Late on Monday night, Doha announced that it would be temporarily closing all airspace over Qatar. Not long afterwards, explosions were heard over Doha following an Iranian missile attack on a US base in Qatar.

Flights between Asia and Europe are already hampered by the closure of Russian airspace, significantly adding to the journey time between the two continents. With the rise of tensions in the Middle East, there remains a slim flight passage over the Stans, south of Russia and north of Iran.

Adding to the chaos, there are fears that electronic warfare technology used in the Middle East could be drowning out the satellite signals that commercial aircraft use to determine their positions.  

Benoit Fuget, co-founder of GPS jamming detection tracker, skAI, told London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper on Monday that the situation is presenting challenges for airlines.

“The aim of jamming is to stop the missile reaching its target,” he said. “But civil aircraft use the same GPS system to navigate. Pilots are very concerned about this increased risk.”

Passengers travelling to or through the Middle East and are concerned about their journey should contact their airline.