Two airplanes were shot down amid regional conflicts in the past. Airlines are playing safe now

Amid ongoing tensions between Iran and Israel, Britain and Egypt have told their airlines to avoid Iranian and Lebanese airspace for three hours on Thursday morning. Reportedly, this directive came after Tehran sent a cautionary notice asking Egypt to avoid its airspace from 4:30 am to 7:30 am (local time) on Thursday.

Egypt's NOTAM, a safety notice provided to pilots, said the instruction would be in effect from 0100 to 0400 GMT.

"All Egyptian carriers shall avoid overflying Tehran (Flight Information Region). No flight plan will be accepted overflying such territory," the notice said.

Tensions in the Middle East have been escalating ever since Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran. Later, top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was also killed in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. There are fears of violence and a broader conflict in the region, because of which British and Egyptian flights have been asked to avoid the airspace of these countries.

Egypt was the first to issue the directive to its airlines, followed by Britain for safety reasons.

Commercial flights have been shot down in the past

Fears of airplanes being targeted stem from past incidents where commercial flights were mistakenly shot down during tense times. Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine by Russian-backed forces in 2014 killing all 298 people on board. It was flying fromAmsterdamtoKuala Lumpur and was hit by aBuk 9M38surface-to-air missile. During this time,awar was going on in Donbasover territory controlled byRussian separatist forces

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In 2020, Iranian air defence units admitted to mistakenly shooting down Ukrainian International Airlines flight PS752. All 176 people on board died after the flight was shot down shortly after taking off from Tehran airport. Iran was on heightened alert at the time because of increased tensions with the United States.

Notice to airlines by Egypt

On Wednesday, Egypt's civil aviation ministry confirmed that the notice was intended to reduce flight safety risks due to a notification it received from Iranian authorities.

"Military exercises will be conducted over Iranian airspace on Aug. 7 from 11:30 to 14:30 and from 4:30 to 7:30 on Aug. 8 Tehran time," the statement said.

The press statement released by Egypt's ministry mentioned an unnamed source quoted by the state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV as saying that Iranian authorities had said to avoid flying in the country's airspace because of "military exercises."

As per the Iranian foreign ministry's website, Iran's Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani spoke over the phone with the Egyptian foreign minister about the matter.

Airlines change schedules

In light of the notice, schedules have been changed to avoid flying over Iranian and Lebanese airspaces. Most airlines have also cancelled flights to Israel and Lebanon. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 shows that British carriers are not flying to Lebanon.

Mark Zee, founder of OPSGROUP - a membership-based organisation that shares flight risk, said that Egyptian airlines have already been avoiding the Iranian airspace. Similarly, Singapore Airlines (OTC: SINGY) stopped flying through Iranian airspace last Friday.

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(With inputs from agencies)