News / Bottlenecks and price hikes as airlines now avoid Iran airspace

© Andrii Yalanskyi

Asia-to-Europe airfreight could face extreme bottlenecks and price hikes due to the rising tension in the Middle East, and sea-air transhipments from Dubai will also be affected. 

On Saturday, Iran launched around 300 missiles and drones at Israel, most of which were shot down by Israel’s US-backed missile defence system and its allies.  

Safety concerns led many major carriers to cancel or re-route flights. Lufthansa Cargo told The Loadstar it would “fly around Iranian airspace” until 19 April, at least. 

But with ...