In the first two weeks of the Middle East war six million airline passengers were affected, show Cirium figures.
In the first fortnight of the conflict more than 98,000 flights were scheduled to fly in and out of the Middle East but more than 52,000 were cancelled.
The data reported by Saudi publication AGBI shows that almost 2.2 million seats have been lost on Middle Eastern airlines. Its figures are based on an average load factor of 80% and an average of 242 seats per flight. The big carriers, Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad, are operating reduced schedules and still face disruption as a result of Iran’s retaliatory attacks.
. . . Other Airlines
Among carriers serving the Middle East, Malaysia Airlines has further extended the temporary suspension of its Doha services until 20 Mar. Singapore Airlines flights between Changi and Dubai are cancelled until 28 Mar; Cathay Pacific has cancelled flights to DXB and Riyadh until the end of Mar.
British Airways has extended sus pensions for flights to Amman, Bahrain, DOH, DXB, and Tel Aviv until late Mar, and to Abu Dhabi until later this year. Lufthansa has suspended flights to eight destinations in the region to as far out as 30 Apr. Latvian airline airBaltic has cancelled DXB flights until the end of Oct. Air Canada has cancelled Toronto-DXB flights until ‘at least’ May. Other airlines flying through the region are also affected and they warn that flight cancellations could be extended if the security situation doesn’t improve.
