Iran has threatened retaliation against Israel for taking out the Hamas leader in Tehran last week. According to many leaders, this attack could come as soon as early morning tomorrow, Israeli time (which is just one hour from now) or the next day. As a result, airlines are being advised to prepare for such an attack.
Middle East Prepares for Iranian Attack
Last week, both Delta and United have suspended service to Tel Aviv with Delta targeting a return to service on August 9 and United not giving a date yet. However, if an attack does occur, that August 9 will slip further.
In addition, other airlines have also suspended flights – Aegean Airlines, Air India, Austrian Airlines, Iberia, LOT, Lufthansa, and SWISS have suspended flights to Israel from their hubs. British Airways as always suspended flights from Heathrow to Tel Aviv.
However, it is not just Israel that is seeing flights be suspended to. Amman is also seeing flights from Austrian and United be suspended. As of this afternoon, Jordan has asked other airlines that continue to fly to Amman to carry an extra 45 minutes of fuel in case of any disturbances while the flights are inflight.
Today, Iran warned pilots to be ready for disruptions to their GPS and navigational signals and have warned them to steer clear of the area, as noted in this FAA notice. A similar notice went out the first day that Iran launched its last attack against Israel (April 13).
Israel, meanwhile, has been preparing for everything from a couple of drone attacks backed by internet bluster from Iran to more of a full scale aerial assault. Rockets have been landing in Israel, not from Iran, over the last few hours which is something that Iran could be directing through its proxies to use up resources.
