Airlines suspend Middle East flights after US, Israel strikes on Iran

DUBAI, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Global airlines suspended flights across the Middle East on Saturday after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, plunging the region into a renewed military confrontation.

Flight maps showed the airspace over Iran virtually empty as Israel said it struck Iran and the U.S. military initiated a series of strikes against targets in the country. Iran retaliated with a salvo of missiles.

The escalation dimmed hopes for a diplomatic solution to Tehran's nuclear dispute with the West and reignited conflict after weeks of U.S. military buildup in the region.

It marks the latest upheaval for air travel in the usually busy region amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. With Russian and Ukrainian airspace closed to most airlines due to years of war, the Middle East has become a more important route for flights between Europe and Asia.

Conflict zones are an increasing operational burden on airlines as aerial attacks raise worries about accidental or deliberate shoot-downs of commercial air traffic. Longer flight times also require more fuel, adding to their costs.

Israel, Iran, Iraq and Jordan closed their airspace following the attacks and a map of the region on Flightradar24 showed airplanes avoiding these areas. 

LUFTHANSA, WIZZ AIR SUSPEND FLIGHTS

A number of Qatar Airways flights departed on Saturday morning, circled over Kuwait or Saudi Arabia before returning to Qatari airspace and were circling off Doha, according to Flightradar24.

The Russian Ministry of Transport said on Saturday that Russian air carriers had suspended flights to Iran and Israel.

Germany's Lufthansa said it was suspending flights to and from Dubai on Saturday and Sunday and halting temporarily the Tel Aviv, Beirut and Oman routes until March 7. Air France cancelled flights to and From Tel Aviv and Beirut.

Iberia also cancelled flights to Tel Aviv, while Wizz Air suspended flights to and from Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman with immediate effect until the same date, it said.

Kuwait's aviation authority said it was halting all flights to Iran until further notice, according to the state news agency, while Oman Air said it had suspended all flights to Baghdad due to the regional developments.

The United Arab Emirates "partially and temporarily" closed its airspace as a precaution, its state news agency said.

"Due to the temporary closure of several airspace in the region on 28 February, some flydubai flights have been impacted," a spokesperson for the Emirati carrier said.

KLM, the Dutch arm of Air France-KLM, has brought forward the suspension of its Amsterdam–Tel Aviv service, cancelling the flight scheduled for Saturday after strikes in Iran, a spokesperson said.

The airline had announced on Wednesday that flights would be halted from Sunday, March 1. Only one flight to Tel Aviv had been scheduled for Saturday.

Virgin Atlantic said it had decided to temporarily avoid Iraqi airspace, resulting in some re-routing of its flights. Qatar Airways said it had halted air traffic temporarily as a precaution.

(Reporting by Federico Maccioni; Editing by Adam Jourdan, Josephine Mason and Janet Lawrence)