While many international flights bound for the Middle East continue to be suspended or rerouted as tensions rise between the US and Iran, Dutch airline KLM announced on Saturday that it will resume operations.
"Based on the current security situation and operational feasibility, we have decided to resume our flights to Tel Aviv on February 2 and 3 with an adjusted schedule. From February 1 through 6, we will also operate flights to Dubai, also with an adjusted schedule", said the airline.
The update comes after routes were suspended earlier in the week in response to US President Donald Trump repeatedly threatening to intervene if Iran continued to kill protesters, but the countrywide demonstrations have since abated.
Trump says he is “planning” to speak to Tehran after dispatching another warship to the Middle East. He has said the US would act if Iran resumed its nuclear programme.
Iran, meanwhile, said it would respond forcefully to any attack. On Thursday, a senior political adviser to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran will treat any American attack as the “start of war” and Tehran will respond by striking the “heart of Tel Aviv”.
While regional airlines, including Emirates, Etihad Airways and Air Arabia, are operating as usual, many European carriers said flights for routes originating in the Middle East may take longer than usual as they reroute to mitigate risks.
“Flights from Dubai and Doha to Helsinki may take longer than usual because we are avoiding Iraqi airspace due to the situation in the Middle East,” Finnair said last week, adding that some flights may be extended by as much as an hour as a result.
Here are some of the international airlines that are affected:
KLM
The Dutch carrier, which initially suspended flights to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Israel last weekend, has now resumed these key routes.
As well as flying to Tel Aviv on February 2 and 3 and Dubai between February 1 and 6, routes to Riyadh and Dammam in Saudi Arabia have also resumed.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely and adjust our schedule where needed,” the airline said on its website.
Lufthansa
The German carrier has suspended services to the Iranian capital, Tehran, until March 29. It has also extended the cancellation of night flight operations to and from Tel Aviv until February 3 as it continues to avoid Iranian and Iraqi airspace.
“This means that crews will return directly without staying overnight,” a spokesperson said.
Austrian Airlines
The flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines has extended its cancellations of flights to Tehran until to February 16. The airline has also switched all its overnight flights to Tel Aviv in Israel and Amman in Jordan to daytime until further notice.
The change was due to the risk of combat drone activity at night, it said.
IndiGo
The Indian low-cost carrier said its services to and from Tbilisi in Georgia, Almaty in Kazakhstan, Baku in Azerbaijan and Tashkent in Uzbekistan will remain suspended until February 11 as a precaution.
“Taking into account developments around Iran, we have made additional adjustments to the schedule of some flights,” the airline said. “We are taking a cautious and proactive approach, with customer and crew safety as our highest priority.”
