 "The instruction to avoid Iranian and Lebanese airspace was first given by Egypt following the notice from Tehran.")
Britain and Egypt have asked all of their airlines to avoid Iranian and Lebanese airspace for three hours in the early morning on Thursday.
The warning comes after Tehran has sent a cautionary notice asking Egypt to avoid Iranian airspace from 4:30 am to 7:30 am (local time) on Thursday.
Why have flights been asked to avoid Iranian & Lebanese airspace?
All of the flights of Britain and Egypt have been asked to avoid Iranian and Lebanese airspace amid mounting fears of a possible broader conflict in the region after the July 31 assassination of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and killing of top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
The instruction to avoid Iranian and Lebanese airspace was first given by Egypt following the notice from Tehran. Britain too later asked all its airlines not to travel on the routes for safety.
Following the directive, several airlines have revised their schedules categorically avoiding Iranian and Lebanese airspace and most have called off flights to Israel and Lebanon.
As per Flightradar24, a flight tracking website, there were no scheduled flights operated by UK airlines to Lebanon.
Egyptian airlines have already been avoiding the Iranian airspace, Reuters quoted Mark Zee, founder of OPSGROUP - a membership-based organisation that shares flight-risk information, as saying.
Zee further informed that Thursday’s directive would apply to all Egyptian carriers, including charter operators, other smaller airlines.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s civil aviation ministry said that the notice to avoid Iran and Lebanese airspace was intended to reduce flight-safety risks in light of a notification it received from Iranian authorities.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Military exercises will be conducted over Iranian airspace on August 7 from 11:30 to 14:30 and from 4:30 to 7:30 on August 8 Tehran time,” the statement further said.
The press statement by the Egyptian civil aviation ministry mentioned an unnamed source quoted by the state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV as saying that Iranian authorities had said to avoid flying in Iranian airspace because of “military exercises."
With inputs from agencies