Austrian Airlines Suspends Flights & Others Avoid Iranian Airspace As Tensions Mount

Austrian Airlines has suspended flights to Iran amid rising tensions in the region, joining Lufthansa in halting flights to the country. The carrier ordinarily operates six weekly flights between Vienna International Airport (VIE) and Theran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKA).

Austrian halts Iran flights

Following in the footsteps of German flag carrier Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines says it will suspend all flights to Iran until April 18. As per Cirium data, Austrian usually flies six weekly roundtrips between Vienna and Tehran with its Airbus A320neo fleet, offering over 2,100 weekly seats.

Photo: Austrian Airlines

Austrian Airlines said in a statement,

“For Austrian Airlines, the safety of its passengers and crews has top priority. The situation in the Middle East is being evaluated on an ongoing basis. To this end, Austrian is in close contact with the authorities.”

Despite Lufthansa halting flights several days ago, Austrian continued to fly to the region, owing to Vienna’s closer proximity to Iran. In doing that, the carrier was the last Western airline to keep its schedule to Iran active. Austrian explained to Skift why it chose to continue flying to Tehran despite Lufthansa suspending its routes to Theran, stating that, due to the shorter flight distance, “it is possible to fly Vienna-Tehran-Vienna without a night stop within the legally permitted working hours of the crew.”

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Lufthansa Suspends Flights To Tehran Amidst Threats Of Conflict With Israel

Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have made significant changes to flight schedules to Tehran, Iran.

Lufthansa and Austrian have been the only Western carriers flying directly to Tehran in recent years after the likes of British Airways and KLM halted services before the pandemic due to poor profitability.

The Austrian foreign ministry recently urged all citizens to get out of Iran, joining other Western consulates – Lufthansa has also confirmed it is extending its flight suspension until April 18 and will avoid Iranian airspace. Israel is expecting military retaliation from Iran following a strike on Iran’s consulate in Syria, which led to the deaths of seven people, including two high-ranking officials.

Avoiding Iranian airspace

Austrian Airlines has stated routes that involve flying over Iranian airspace will be rerouted to avoid the country, a move also adopted by the likes of Qantas and Air India. The airline operates a few long-haul routes to Asia that ordinarily would pass over Iran, including Bangkok (BKK), Shanghai (PVG) and Tokyo (NRT).

In a statement, the Austrian carrier said,

“Routes that pass through Iranian air space will also be modified. The safety of our passengers and crews have highest priority.”

We only have to look at tragedies like the MH17 or UIA Flight 752 shootdowns to understand why airlines make these decisions. In the case of MH17 in 2014, the Boeing 777 was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile when flying over an active warzone in Eastern Ukraine, while UIA Flight 752 was shot down shortly after taking off from Tehran.

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The accident led to the death of 176 people onboard the aircraft.

What do you think of Austrian Airlines’ decision to halt flights to Iran? Let us know in the comments.