More airlines fly over Afghanistan in last week as Middle East tensions rise

Airlines have diverted more flights over Afghanistan over the past week to avoid Iranian airspace, data shows, adding to journey times and fuel costs in the latest disruption for routes between Asia and Europe as tensions in the Middle East escalate. Flights over Afghanistan were already growing in recent months, but expectations of an Israeli response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel last week have furthered that trend, data from flight tracker FlightRadar24 shows. EASA last week issued a warning for airlines to avoid Iranian airspace.<br/>FlightRadar24 showed 132 overflights of Afghanistan on Sept. 29. On Oct. 2, the day after Iran attacked Israel, the number of Afghan overflights rose to 176. On Oct. 6, the daily number had steadily risen to 222.<br/>Taliban officials said the number of overflights were even higher in recent days than the FlightRadar24 data showed. "Specifically, over the past five or six days, there have been about 350 transit flights in 24 hours, compared to around 100 transit flights (a year ago) previously," said Imamudden Ahmadi, the spokesperson for the Taliban-run Ministry of Transportation and Aviation.<br/>