After a dramatic and sleepless three days in Dubai, it was little surprise Peter Mousaferiadis slept during the entire flight back home to Melbourne.
The seasoned traveller was among the tens of thousands of Australians caught in one of the world’s biggest transit hubs as the United Arab Emirates sought to fend off incoming Iranian attacks.
“It was a terrifying experience, because you really weren’t too sure what was happening,” he told the ABC hours after landing on Australian soil.
Peter Mousaferiadis says he is impressed by the United Arab Emirates’s ability to shoot down incoming Iranian missiles and drones. (Supplied: Peter Mousaferiadis)
The outbreak of war between Israel, the US and Iran has shut off one of the major ways Australians can fly to and from Europe, along the so-called Kangaroo Route.
Major Middle Eastern carriers such as Qatar, Emirates and Etihad are almost entirely grounded, leaving people like Mr Mousaferiadis scrambling to find an alternative.
Combined with the Ukraine war, which is in its fourth year, pilots from other flag carriers now must fly through a narrow passage to Iran’s north, across Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Airspace closures over the Middle East and Ukraine are diverting flights into narrow corridors via central Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. (Supplied: FlightRadar24)
RMIT aviation expert Justin Brownjohn says that even if the war in the Middle East were to end tomorrow, “we’re probably not going to see a return to normal operations” for at least a week.
What this disruption means for the Kangaroo Route
Flag carriers such as Singapore, Cathay Pacific and Qantas need to thread the needle if they want to cater to demand for travel between Australia, Asia and Europe.
Airspace for commercial aviation is closed over Iran, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Israel. Syria has reopened a single air corridor in its north to cater to airlines affected by those closures.
Iran war live updates: For the latest news on the Middle East crisis read our blog.
The most common route for Australians flights is now via the Caucus, through Azerbaijani airspace.
Pilots have been notified of an expected increased traffic in that region.
But even that is under threat after a drone was fired at Azerbaijan on Friday, temporarily closing airspace. Iran is denying responsibility.
Aviation expert Neil Hansford says if that corridor north of Iran was closed, airlines would still be able to route their flights to the south, via Egypt.
“It would have to be a major exponential expansion of hostilities before there would be no way of being able to overfly and go to Europe,” he said.
Despite flight radar websites making the area look crowded, Mr Hansford said modern air traffic control systems were “highly computerised” and flights in different directions were routed at different altitudes to eliminate the risk of a crash.
Diversions mean slightly longer flight times and a bit more jet fuel burnt, according to Mr Hansford.
“The only extra cost Qantas has got is for additional flying — for instance, their direct Perth to London flight is now stopping at Singapore for fuel,” he said.
But Mr Brownjohn says even those slightly longer flights could throw out timings and result in airlines being unable to deliver a full schedule.
“So routes that you might see multiple flights per day on may lose one or two flights a day just because capacity’s got to be redistributed elsewhere,” he said.
Europe traveller undeterred
For Mr Mousaferiadis, the shrinking options to fly between Europe and Australia will not dissuade him from making the journey again.
Read more about the Iran war:
He is keen to keep transiting through Dubai once the crisis is resolved, but he is aware not everyone will be on the same page.
“I’ve got confidence of the UAE being more than capable of being able to defend itself, and what I think what this conflict proved is that it can do that,” he said, reflecting on how he witnessed the country’s missile defence systems operating against Iranian drones.
“So I do think once things calm down, in Dubai there will be confidence restored and people will continue to fly through there.”Loading…