Rising tensions in the Middle East have created air travel chaos, with global airlines diverting or cancelling flights to keep passengers and crew safe.
The closure came after Iran launched almost 200 ballistic missiles towards Israel on Tuesday night.
The airspace above Iran, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and other countries in the region was closed causing 81 flights to be diverted by 16 airlines.
A spokesperson for tracking service FlightRadar24 said flights diverted “anywhere they could’ with many converging on Cairo and Istanbul.
One route that was forced to divert south was a Rome to Dubai flight that was diverted by a whopping 3,100 miles away to Athens.
Taking to TikTok @yendor24103 posted a video of the inflight screen which mapped the massive diversion with the caption: ” When your flight to Rome is suddenly diverted due to Middle East tensions 1/10/24.”
Whilst @egph_avgeek posted a TikTok of their Emirates flight from Frankfurt to Dubai being diverted 1861 miles away to Cairo.
The TikTok showed a crowded airspace at Cairo airport as it coped with the many diversions.
A British Airways flight from London to Dubai, a Royal Jordanian Airlines flight from Paris to Amman, and an Israeli airline El Al flight from Rhodes, Greece, to Tel Aviv were all diverted to Larnaca, Cyprus, FlightRadar data shows.
British Airways told Business Insider, “Safety and security are always our highest priorities, and we continuously assess and adjust our operations accordingly.”
Eurocontrol, a pan-European air traffic control agency, had warned pilots of the escalating conflict.
“A major missile attack has been launched against Israel in the last few minutes,” it said in an urgent navigation bulletin. “At present the entire country is under a missile warning.”
Throughout the day, some restrictions were lifted, FlightRadar24 said.
Jordan and Iraq reopened to flights late on Tuesday local time, though few were passing through the region.
Iran has extended the closure of their airspace in anticipation of Israeli’s retaliation for their attack.