Iran temporarily closes airspace to most flights

Iran temporarily closed its airspace to all flights except international ones to and from Iran with official permission at 5:15 p.m. ET (2215 GMT) on Wednesday, according to a notice posted on the Federal Aviation Administration's website.

The prohibition is set to last for more than two hours until 7:30 p.m. ET, or 0030 GMT, but could be extended, the notice said.

The United States was withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbours it would hit American bases if Washington strikes.

Missile and drone barrages in a growing number of conflict zones represent a high risk to airline traffic.

India's largest airline, IndiGo INGL.NS said some of its international flights would be impacted by Iran's sudden airspace closure. A flight by Russia's Aeroflot AFLT.MM bound for Tehran returned to Moscow after the closure, according to tracking data from Flightradar24.

Earlier on Wednesday, Germany issued a new directive cautioning the country's airlines from entering Iranian airspace, shortly after Lufthansa LHAG.DE rejigged its flight operations across the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region.

The United States already prohibits all U.S. commercial flights from overflying Iran and there are no direct flights between the countries.

Airline operators like flydubai and Turkish Airlines have canceled multiple flights to Iran in the past week.

"Several airlines have already reduced or suspended services, and most carriers are avoiding Iranian airspace," said Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organisation that shares flight risk information. "The situation may signal further security or military activity, including the risk of missile launches or heightened air defence, increasing the risk of misidentification of civil traffic."

Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace until further notice while it would only operate day flights to Tel Aviv and Amman from Wednesday until Monday next week so that crew would not have to stay overnight. Some flights could also be canceled as a result of these actions, it added in a statement.

Italian carrier ITA Airways, in which Lufthansa Group is now a major shareholder, said that it would similarly suspend night flights to Tel Aviv until Tuesday next week.

-David Shepardson/Reuters