Airlines cancel flights amid fears of US military action in Iran: What to know
Arrivals at Tehran's airport this week mainly indicated Iranian and Middle Eastern airlines were flying to the Persian country amid heightened tensions with Washington.
Air traffic into Iran remains limited this week, with only a small number of domestic, regional and international carriers maintaining service as airlines continue to avoid the country amid Iran-US tensions and fragile negotiations over a new nuclear agreement.
Arrivals at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport this week show that flights are largely limited to Iranian and regional carriers. According to Flightradar24, the international airlines scheduled to operate into Iran’s main gateway through Saturday morning include UAE carriers Air Arabia, Emirates and flydubai; Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines and Turkish Airlines; Qatar Airways; and Oman’s low-cost carrier, SalamAir.
The only two airlines due to land at the airport from outside the Middle East region during the same period were Azerbaijan Airlines and Armenia Airways, per the flight-tracking service.
Tensions between Iran and the United States are high, as world powers and regional states fear a breakdown in negotiations between the two countries could ignite a conflict that threatens to spill over to the rest of the region. The two countries are negotiating issues including Tehran's nuclear program and support for regional proxies. The talks also follow a brutal state crackdown on anti-government protests last month that drew strong criticism from Washington and left thousands dead.
As a result, US President Donald Trump has been ratcheting up the pressure on Tehran, deploying military forces to the region and threatening to use them if a deal is not reached. Global aviation administrations have been on high alert amid an increasingly large US military buildup in the region.
Iran issued an air notice — called a NOTAM — on Wednesday that it plans rocket launches and military drills in areas across its south on Thursday from 3:30 a.m. GMT to 1:30 p.m. GMT, the US Federal Aviation Administration said on its website.
Many airlines haven’t formally announced suspensions linked to the tensions, but some international carriers have issued statements or updates about their operations:
Asia
India's largest airline, IndiGo, issued a travel advisory on X on Monday, listing four affected destinations due to the Iran tensions.
“Considering the ongoing developments in the region around Iran and its associated airspace, flights to and from Tbilisi, Almaty, Baku and Tashkent remain impacted.”
The airline had earlier suspended services to these destinations until Feb. 28 but has now canceled the aforementioned routes until March 28.
On Jan. 15, Air India canceled at least three flights to the US from Delhi and Mumbai due to the Iranian airspace closure.
Singapore Airlines and its budget airline, Scoot, told the Straits Times in late January that they were avoiding airspace over Iraq and the Red Sea as a precautionary measure.
"SIA Group will continue to closely monitor the situation in the Middle East and will adjust our flight paths as needed," a Singapore Airlines spokesperson said.
North America
United Airlines withdrew its services to Tel Aviv late last year but was operating them again as of this week, according to Flightradar24.
Delta Air Lines canceled its Sunday New York to Tel Aviv service at the end of last month.
Air Canada suspended its Montreal to Tel Aviv and Montreal to Delhi services in November for its summer 2026 service, in what it said was due to “commercial reasons.”
Europe
Last month, Lufthansa Group — which owns Germany’s Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss Airlines — suspended overnight flights to Tel Aviv and Amman and restricted other Middle East operations to daytime only.
A Lufthansa Group spokesperson told Al-Monitor that, “for operational reasons,” Lufthansa is canceling its flights to Tehran until the end of the winter flight schedule on March 28. Austrian Airlines is also suspending its flights until March 10.
“The airlines of the Lufthansa Group will continue to refrain from flying over Iranian and Iraqi airspace. In contrast, part of Bahrain's airspace can be used again,” the spokesperson added.
“The Lufthansa Group is continuing to monitor the situation closely and will reassess the situation in the coming days,” the spokesperson said. “Affected passengers will be automatically rebooked and proactively contacted. Alternatively, guests can rebook to a later travel date. The safety of our guests and crew members is always our top priority.”
In a statement on Feb. 10, Dutch flag carrier KLM said it was operating Amsterdam-Tel Aviv and Amsterdam-Dubai flights on an adjusted schedule. The airline said in January it had resumed flights to Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and Dammam.
On Jan. 16, British Airways halted its flights to Bahrain indefinitely amid Iran-US tensions.
On Feb. 12, the European Union’s air safety regulator advised that the bloc’s airlines stay out of Iranian airspace until March 31, extending an earlier warning.
"The presence and possible use of a wide range of weapons and air defense systems, combined with unpredictable state responses … creates a high risk to civil flights operating at all altitudes and flight levels," the European Union Aviation Safety Agency said in a bulletin.
