[alainboy56]

And now it seems today that perhaps ‘the loonies in charge’ did make a mistake??
There was also another American ‘mistake’ in the 1980’s whereby an Italian DC-9 was shot down over the island of Ustica off Southern Italy and rumours have it that the good ‘ol merkans’ mistook it for another aircraft in the same area carrying Qadaffi.
Never admitted, big cover up, ATC guy on duty that day died in mysterious circumstances a short while afterwards. The usual conspiracy theories over why a civilian DC-9 broke up in mid-air killing all on board has never been answered to this day. Alas this tragedy is only remembered in Italy.

[AMcWhirter]

Austrian, another LH Group airline, had planned to operate Vienna-Tehran OS871 with a Sofia stopover.

Via Twitter @_austrian last night said “Due to the latest reports and the changed assessment of the security situation for the airspace around Tehran airport, Austrian Airlines has cancelled today’s and tomorrow’s rotation OS871/OS872 to Tehran. Austrian planned to operate today’s [presumably Jan 9) OS871 with a stopover in Sofia.”

[capetonianm]

German airline giant Lufthansa and Air France said on Wednesday it would not overfly Iran and Iraq “until further notice”, after Tehran launched missiles at US bases in Iraq.

“We are no longer overflying Iran and Iraq until further notice,” a Lufthansa spokesman told AFP, adding that Wednesday’s daily Frankfurt-Tehran flight was cancelled, while Saturday’s twice-weekly service to northern Iraqi city Erbil would also not depart.”

Others will no doubt follow.

[alainboy56]

Do any of my fellow and very knowledgeable contributors here remember a short while ago, perhaps a year or more ago, a Private jet registered in Turkey to some squillionaire businessman took off from DXB with an all girl crew (2 upfront and 1 cabin crew), plus 7 young ladies of which one was the daughter of the squillionaire on her ‘Hen week’ or shall we politely say her last ‘weekend of freedom’ before her marriage in the following days.???

That aircraft came down (shot down?) over Iran too!!!
It was indeed her ‘last weekend’ ….. of her young life!!!

[canucklad]

Apologies, just noticed I’ve posted this comment already and can’t figure out how to delete it without doing a full edit

[AMcWhirter]

“Lufthansa scraps Tehran flights until January 20th”

https://www.thelocal.de/20200110/german-airline-lufthansa-scraps-tehran-flights-until-january-20th?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[capetonianm]

In the wake of Iranian missile launches into Iraq, most airlines are now avoiding flying through Iraqi and Iranian airspace. The US FAA, UK, and France have all issued prohibitions to their respective airlines and many others are abiding by those prohibitions. Gulf-based carriers, such as Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways continue to operate most flights through Iraq and Iran.

If the Iranians shot down a Ukrainian aircraft ‘by mistake’ they could just as easily mistakenly shoot down one belonging to a Gulf carrier. Utter irresponsibility and another reason not to use them.

2 users thanked author for this post.

AFlyingDutchman, rferguson

[MarcusGB]

This may also be a reminder of caution, for the ultra long haul EU – Australia flights being developed at this time.

As many Forum members here at BT, looking back, we have had this situation arise many times in The Middle East, varying country to country.
Personally, as i am sure for us all, i carefully consider which hubs I use if transiting in the ME, and indeed the Airline and Politics when these issues arise again.
They need sensible and careful consideration.
These situations may well flare up as we see this last week, but they take much longer to settle down, and i would describe the region at best as “Permanently Volatile”.
Airlines routings of course are outside of our control, but generally i find European Airlines prompt and responsive with immediate effect. I certainly feel that they make sensible safe decisions. It of course, has immediate financial implications to an Airline in fuel alone.

Qantas direct flights Perth- London needing to divert for a fuel stop in The Far East due to the fuel and aircraft capacity. I read from The Sydney Herald, that without this stop, 90 passengers would have to be unloaded, so as fuel / weight could still continue the non stop flight. There would be a 90+ minute (minimum) extra time needed to continue to fly non stop, which if financially viable, would change this outcome.
Qantas certainly are “Packing them in” with use of a 4 class 789 Dreamliner, an aircraft which i do enjoy, but it is not large, for so long and full, with little on board space to move. Makes me wonder too if a 90 minute extra flight time, cuts so finely the remaining fuel on the flights that currently run!

This brings attention to their “Sunrise Project”, the aim of non stop flights between Europe and various Australian cities. more with A350 Aircraft at this time of consideration

https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/media-releases/qantas-update-on-project-sunrise/

No doubt this will also have an effect needing to be considered, as disturbances of some kind in The Middle East are not uncommon in one form or another.

It was only last summer that a similar issue caused delays to flights from Europe to the The Far East taking 1.5-3 hrs extra out, and back, and my Air France flight and the KLM due an hour later were delayed by 2+ hrs coming in from Europe alone. This meant returning later flights would not make connections at CDG pr AMS to Europe, as both were day flights returning to Europe.

Sadly this has an immediate effect on us all, and as many of us book long haul in advance, so have to rely on the actions of the Airlines to decide on flight plans.

It does have, in this rather unstable World, to have an impact on these ultra – long Haul flights, and their viability in the future, as these are not isolated incidents.

I travel to The Far East and Australia often, and prefer a break of a stopover or changing of aircraft for such a long OZ journey. I would not wish to be on an aircraft for 18-21 hrs as is being planned regardless, when flying to Australia. It can be after all, a mere 1.5- 2 hrs to change or refuel an aircraft, as when most European Airlines flew one of their own aircraft down to Australia.

These current issues do make me wonder of the realism and viability of such flights, when The World is very unstable in so many regions, and these situations are merely a constant today.

1 user thanked author for this post.

AMcWhirter

[AMcWhirter]

Hello Marcus

As can be seen here the profitability for QF is small. And that is easily be upset were fuel prices to rise significantly and/or there to be schedule disruption.

How profitable are ultra-long-haul routes? Pioneering research gives answers

1 user thanked author for this post.

MarcusGB

[LuganoPirate]

[postquote quote=986116][/postquote]

In view of recent admissions, I unreservedly withdraw my comment!

[Author]

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