The US and Israel’s strikes on Iran have thrown global air travel into chaos.
In the aftermath of the strikes, at least 145 flights in the Middle East have been diverted to 73 destinations.
Business Insider has compiled a map showing where some of the diverted planes have ended up as of 9:30 a.m. EST. To compile the data, we looked at Flightradar24’s arrivals lists for five major airports in the region: Dubai International, Doha International Airport, Abu Dhabi International Airport, Sharjah International Airport in the UAE, and Bahrain International Airport.
The lists show that 63 flights have been diverted from Doha, 47 from Dubai International, 16 from Abu Dhabi, 16 from Sharjah, and three from Bahrain.
This map shows where those flights landed:
There are likely more flights that are affected and that Flightradar24 had not yet registered as diverted or that were bound for other destinations in the region.
Some of the flights that diverted didn’t have to change course too dratsically. The most common airport to which flights were diverted was Muscat, Oman, accounting for 17 flights.
Another 11 landed in Istanbul and Karachi, Pakistan.
Air travel chaos
Flights from across the globe frequently fly to and across the Middle East.
The area is home to some of the world’s most congested airspace and global airlines like Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Saudia.
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Together, these carriers diverted dozens of planes. Data from the aviation analytics firm shows some 3,400 scheduled flights were destined for the region today; it’s likely many of those that haven’t taken off yet will be canceled so long as the airspace remains closed.
Diversions are costly because airlines have to pay for extra fuel, labor, and any passenger compensation. Airline operations centers — which play Tetris to manage cancellations, delays, and misplaced crews — are likely overwhelmed with the chaos. Planes landing in unintended destinations can have knock-on effects on their schedules.
Dozens of flights had to return to their origins or ended up in unexpected cities.
An American Airlines flight to Doha U-turned over Ireland and looked set to land back in Philadelphia after 13 hours.
Many other US flights landed across Europe. An Emirates flight from Seattle diverted to Warsaw, Poland, and another, from New York, went to Vienna. Other airplanes landed in places like Rome and Madrid, too.
The diversions also included a private jet, a Bombardier Global 7500, which was heading from Geneva to Sharjah but diverted to Cairo, per Flightradar24.
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