Longer SIA flights to Europe as airline avoids Iranian airspace

SINGAPORE: Travellers on Singapore Airlines (SIA) services between Singapore and most of its destinations in Europe are facing longer flights as the airline avoids Iranian airspace.

SIA said on Sunday (Apr 14) that it had decided to reroute flights to these destinations to bypass Iran as a "precautionary measure" amid the situation in the Middle East.

Over the weekend, Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel in its first direct attack on the country. Iran said that the assault was in retaliation for an Apr 1 attack on an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria.

In response to queries from CNA, an SIA spokesperson said on Tuesday that all SIA flights operating between Singapore and Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Istanbul, London, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris, Rome and Zurich as well as New York's John F Kennedy (JFK) and Newark airports have been affected by the rerouting.

"Some flights may take slightly longer than usual," the spokesperson said.

"SIA will be assisting affected customers to re-accommodate them on alternative flights, should there be a misconnection due to an extended flight time."

The spokesperson added that all Scoot flights between Singapore and Athens have also been affected. Scoot is the low-cost subsidiary of SIA.

Up until the weekend, SIA flights between Singapore and Europe would typically fly over Iran, according to data from flight tracking service Flightradar24.

Since then, however, they have had to take a circuitous northerly route that passes over Central Asia, the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus. This has led to longer flight times.

Singapore Airlines flight SQ308 from Singapore to London's Heathrow Airport, for example, had a flight time of 14 hours and three minutes on Monday. The average flight time for the service is 13 hours and 39 minutes, according to Flightradar24.

SQ366 from Singapore to Rome, meanwhile, which has an average flight time of 12 hours and 38 minutes, was in the air for 13 hours and three minutes on Sunday.

SIA's nonstop services from New York to Singapore have also had their flight paths modified, although they do not appear to have been impacted significantly by the diversion.

Sunday's SQ21 from Newark to Singapore matched the average flight time for the service of 18 hours and eight minutes. Similarly, Sunday's SQ23 from JFK to Singapore only took six minutes longer than the service's average flight time of 18 hours.

As for Scoot's Singapore-Athens service, Monday's outbound flight took 12 minutes longer than average.

The SIA spokesperson said that the airline has not cancelled any flights and will "continue to closely monitor the situation in the Middle East" and adjust its flight paths as needed.

The spokesperson advised passengers to check their flight's status and update their contact details on SIA's website. They can also subscribe to a mobile notification service to receive updates on their flights.

"We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused. The safety of our customers and staff is our top priority," the spokesperson added.

The move by SIA to reroute its flights to avoid Iranian airspace mirrored those made by other airlines, including German airline Lufthansa and its subsidiary Austrian Airlines.

On Friday, Lufthansa said that its planes would no longer use Iranian airspace as it extended a suspension on flights to and from Iran's capital.

According to Flightradar24, Lufthansa flight LH779 from Singapore to Frankfurt took a southerly route on Tuesday, passing over Oman, Saudi Arabia and Egypt before heading out over the Mediterranean Sea and then Türkiye. It arrived after 13 hours and 36 minutes, exceeding the average flight time for the service by about an hour.

LH779 flights last week flew over Pakistan and Iran.

Australian airline Qantas also said on Saturday that it will redirect its long-haul flights between Perth and London to avoid Iran's airspace.

Flight Global's Asia managing editor Greg Waldron told CNA that "virtually all airlines operating through Middle Eastern airspace to Singapore will be highly wary of Iranian airspace, given the potential for military conflict in the region".

"Other countries in the region, however, appear to have opened their airspace, which helps facilitate traffic to Europe," he said.

Mr Waldron added that "events in the Middle East have made a challenging air travel situation even more so".

"At a time when the industry is focusing on environmental issues, flying alternative routes burns more fuel and increases emissions," he said. "Moreover, airlines in some cases will have to tweak schedules and connections."

The skies over Iran are not empty though.

Turkish Airlines has continued to use Iranian airspace, with its TK54 service flying over Iran on its way from Istanbul to Singapore on Tuesday.

Other major airlines continuing to operate in Iranian airspace include Emirates and Qatar Airways.