- EASA extended its conflict zone bulletin until April 24, 2026, for several Middle Eastern countries.
- Airlines must avoid most airspace due to risks of misidentification and advanced air defense systems.
- Major carriers like Lufthansa and British Airways have suspended flights to the region through late 2026.
(MIDDLE EAST) — The European Union Aviation Safety Agency extended its Conflict Zone Information Bulletin, telling EU air operators to avoid airspace over Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, UAE, Oman, and Saudi Arabia until April 24, 2026.
EASA issued the advisory in CZIB 2026-03 R5 as airlines and regulators continue to deal with instability that followed U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026, and Iran’s retaliatory attacks. The agency cited risks of misidentification, interception errors, and advanced air defense systems at all altitudes.
The bulletin allows one narrow exception. Operators may use a corridor south of the reporting points OBSOT 295451N373455E, DANOM 225454N450509E, KEDON 200516N555850E, and VELOD 234617N573430E in Saudi Arabia’s FIR Jeddah and Oman’s FIR Muscat, but only above FL320 and only with a current risk assessment.
That warning reaches across much of the central Gulf and Levant at a time when commercial traffic remains uneven across the region. It also shows that, despite some reopenings, Europe’s aviation regulator still sees enough volatility to keep broad restrictions in place.
As of early April 2026, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Syria were closed or heavily restricted, though Iraq, Syria, and Bahrain reportedly reopened after a US-Iran ceasefire on April 7, 2026. Other airspace remained partially operational under limits rather than fully open.
Israel’s Tel Aviv FIR was operating with limits tied to PPR arrivals and departures. In the UAE, the Emirates FIR was available through a single western routing, LUDID, while Qatar’s Doha FIR was available for approved arrivals via LAEEB and departures via DATRI.
Bahrain, Oman, and Saudi Arabia were also in the category of partial operations with restrictions. The result for long-haul traffic has been a sharp shift away from the central Gulf corridor that normally carries a heavy share of Europe-Asia flights.
Carriers have instead relied on northern routings through the Caucasus and Afghanistan or southern paths through Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. Those patterns reflect the kind of operational adjustments airlines make when regulators and national authorities judge airspace conditions too unstable for normal planning.
EASA’s Conflict Zone Information Bulletin is not a formal closure order for all global operators, but it is a strong safety advisory to EU air operators. In practice, such bulletins can shape route planning, scheduling, fuel calculations, crew timing, and commercial decisions well beyond Europe because many airlines align operations with the strictest available risk assessment.
The agency extended the warning from April 10 to April 24 after the ceasefire, showing that partial diplomatic de-escalation did not remove the concerns behind the advisory. EASA said EASA, the EU Commission, and member states continue monitoring for risk changes.
Those concerns go beyond direct military strikes. The bulletin pointed to the danger that aircraft could be misidentified, face interception errors, or encounter advanced air defense systems, and it framed those threats as present at all altitudes.
That language matters for airline operations because it means the risks are not limited to takeoff, landing, or low-level flight. Even cruise levels that airlines often view as safer can remain exposed when air defense activity and missile or drone threats are part of the operating picture.
The narrow exemption in Saudi Arabia and Oman reflects that more calibrated approach. EASA did not open the whole area; it kept most of the affected airspace under its avoidance recommendation and permitted only a tightly defined corridor south of the named reporting points, above FL320, and subject to a current risk assessment.
Airlines have already responded with broad suspensions and reroutings. Lufthansa Group suspended flights to Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, and Tehran until October, and to Dubai and Tel Aviv until end of May.
Air France halted flights to Dubai, Riyadh, Tel Aviv, and Beirut until early May. British Airways cancelled Dubai and Abu Dhabi flights and offered flexible rebooking and refunds through October.
Those moves show how carriers are treating the advisory and the regional security picture as more than a short disruption. Even where some airspace has reopened or remained partly usable, airlines have kept service cuts in place for weeks or months, suggesting that route availability alone is not enough to restore normal operations.
For passengers, that has meant frequent schedule revisions and less predictable connections through the Gulf and eastern Mediterranean. Airlines have stressed safety and told travelers to monitor real-time flight status as schedules continue to change.
The advisory follows a period of rapid military escalation. Tensions rose after the U.S.-Israel strikes on February 28, 2026, and Iranian retaliation targeted eastern Saudi Arabia and GCC nations like the UAE.
The ceasefire on April 7, 2026 led to partial reopenings in places including Iraq, Syria, and Bahrain. EASA still chose to prolong its warning because missile and drone activity, along with the broader volatility, remained part of its risk picture.
That cautious posture fits with how regulators handle conflict airspace. Reopening can begin in stages, with national authorities restoring access to certain routes, flight levels, or arrival and departure procedures before a full return to normal operations.
The current pattern across the Middle East reflects exactly that fragmented environment. Some FIRs are available only for approved traffic or tightly controlled routings, while others remain closed or heavily restricted, forcing operators to build schedules around corridors that can change quickly.
EASA also reminded operators to keep monitoring aeronautical publications and guidance from national authorities. For airlines, that means the bulletin is one layer in a wider safety process that includes daily review of notices, route analyses, and operational risk assessments.
The agency’s instruction to use a current risk assessment for any operation in the allowed corridor above FL320 points to the speed with which conditions can shift. A route that is acceptable one day may become unusable the next if air defense postures, military activity, or access rules change.
Separate EASA conflict-zone advisories remain in force elsewhere in the region. The agency continues to ban operations in Syria under CZIB-2017-03R17 and in Yemen’s Sana’a FIR under CZIB-2017-07R17.
Taken together, those bulletins leave large parts of the Middle East under some form of heightened caution or outright prohibition for EU operators. That complicates network planning not only for direct services to the region but also for flights linking Europe with Asia, Africa, and the Indian Ocean.
When airlines divert around the central Gulf, the effects spread through the rest of the system. Aircraft can face longer routings, altered departure times, and tighter rotations, while passengers can see destination changes long after they booked their tickets.
The latest bulletin also puts a formal European regulatory frame around a reality that airlines had already begun to recognize through their own suspensions. Lufthansa Group, Air France, and British Airways all cut services to destinations that sit at or near the affected operating area, and each carrier pushed some decisions well beyond the immediate ceasefire period.
That gap between partial airspace reopenings and longer airline suspensions is one of the clearest signs of the current operating climate. Regulators may allow limited use of some corridors, but carriers still weigh crew safety, insurance, aircraft dispatch, airport restrictions, and the possibility of abrupt closures before restoring routes.
For now, the map remains split between closed zones, constrained corridors, and temporary pathways that airlines can use only under strict conditions. EASA’s extension of CZIB 2026-03 R5 until April 24, 2026 leaves little doubt that, in its view, the conflict risk over the Middle East has not passed.
