{"id":612108,"date":"2026-09-26T05:42:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T05:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/612108\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T05:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T05:42:20","slug":"flying-to-europe-how-politics-shapes-passengers-flight-route-choices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/612108\/","title":{"rendered":"Flying to Europe: How politics shapes passengers\u2019 flight route choices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chris<\/p>\n

September 26, 2026 \u2014 5:00am<\/p>\n

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When Melbourne traveller Mike Stow flew back from the UK via Abu Dhabi in July, despite tensions continuing to flare up in the Middle East, his flights were full.<\/p>\n

While some people were avoiding the region because of war, the frequent flyer remained unconcerned. \u201cOver the years, there have been many of these stoushes … it never makes a long-term impact on travel,\u201d Stow says.<\/p>\n

\"QatarQatar Airways is welcoming back passengers, but not all are convinced.Getty Images<\/p>\n

Yet, Stow admits that, for nervous passengers, the fear of travelling via areas close to a conflict zone isn\u2019t unwarranted. \u201cSome people are more risk-averse rather than risk-aware,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

That divide is reshaping long-haul travel to Europe. Amid recent military conflicts in the Middle East, airlines have been forced to alter flight paths, rerouting tens of thousands of passengers.<\/p>\n

\"MikeMike Stow recently travelled to the UK through the Middle East and had no problems.<\/p>\n

The impact on Middle Eastern transit hubs has been dramatic. Data from analytics firm OAG reveals connecting bookings through Doha plunged 52 per cent following the Iran conflict, while Dubai dropped 44 per cent. In contrast, Asian hubs absorbed the overflow \u2013 with European transit traffic through Singapore rising 32 per cent and Hong Kong surging 48 per cent.<\/p>\n

The escalating regional conflicts and security risks are fragmenting global airspace, forcing airlines into longer, costlier detours. They have redirected passenger traffic away from the Middle East to Asian hubs and driven up the technical complexity and cost of air travel.<\/p>\n

Australian Travel Industry Association\u2019s Dean Long says: \u201cOne of the things we\u2019ve definitely found is that the cheapest fare will be putting you into different airspace at a different level of risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no longer just about the pitch of the seat. Different air corridors are going to cost different amounts of money [driven] by what is occurring around them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so people need to be aware of that, particularly if they\u2019re just booking on price,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The relatively easy-to-access open airspace of past decades is becoming a patchwork with different rules and variable conditions.<\/p>\n

The avoidance of routes near Iran and the Persian Gulf means more Asia-Europe flights cross a narrow corridor over Azerbaijan, or fly south across Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

Long says the air corridors to Europe have always been relatively narrow, but adds: \u201cThey are very narrow now.\u201d<\/p>\n

There really are now two directions \u2013 one through Africa, and one through Asia \u2013 for these trips.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is something people are definitely going to have to be aware of \u2013 and make sure they\u2019re asking the right questions when they\u2019re booking those carriers,\u201d Long says.<\/p>\n

Brisbane-based Tony and Marie Steele are an example of travellers who opted out of flying via the Middle East due to the conflict in the region. They had a trip to Athens booked for June via Virgin\/Qatar, but as the days ticked down and uncertainty over the situation in the Middle East increased, they visited a travel agent to see what options were available. \u201cWe were not comfortable travelling through that region,\u201d says Tony.<\/p>\n

\"Brisbane-basedBrisbane-based Tony and Marie Steele changed their booking to Singapore Airlines instead of travelling via the Middle East.<\/p>\n

When Virgin\/Qatar cancelled their flight in early April, allowing them to get a refund for the return trip, the couple immediately booked directly with Singapore Airlines. \u201cWe have friends that booked for 2027 going to Europe via Dubai. For us, though, we would rather have peace of mind and won\u2019t transit through that region until it is pretty much certain that hostilities won\u2019t reignite again.\u201d<\/p>\n

For that reason, they have booked for 2027 to Europe directly with Singapore Airlines.<\/p>\n

Iran is only the latest conflict to unsettle global aviation.<\/p>\n

Only four years ago, Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine gave an advantage to Middle East and Chinese airlines. They could continue to fly over Russian airspace on more direct routes to Europe.<\/p>\n

Western airlines, meanwhile, had to avoid Russian airspace and were forced to fly longer \u2013 sometimes for hours \u2013 to avoid it. Finnair, for example, once offered some of the quickest trips from Europe to Asia. After 2022, it had to fly a route four hours longer around Russia to connect to Asia afterwards. Finnair launches flights from Melbourne to Helsinki next month.<\/p>\n

In a sign of how fluid airspace conditions have become, Middle Eastern and Chinese airlines are now being warned by Ukraine about the risks of continuing to fly over Russia.<\/p>\n

In August, Ukraine – whose airspace has been closed by war since 2022 \u2013 warned the International Civil Aviation Organisation that Russian airspace should no longer be considered safe, as the ongoing drone assault between Russia and Ukraine continues.<\/p>\n

The rapid changes in airspace require airlines to rethink their plans quickly, including recalculating fuel costs, flight times and staffing.<\/p>\n

The highways of the sky<\/p>\n

The upshot of all these changes is that more planes are being crammed into some of the highways that allow thousands of planes to travel across the planet.<\/p>\n

Which routes airlines fly affects the system that the aviation sector has perfected over the years to fill the sky more efficiently with the 30,000 commercial aircraft in active service.<\/p>\n

What is known as the semicircular rule (or hemispheric rule) is designed to make sure two planes flying in opposite directions never end up at the same altitude. The planes must maintain a \u201cvertical separation\u201d of 2000 feet, or just over 600 metres, keeping them safely apart.<\/p>\n

Planes at cruising altitude can actually fly closer vertically to each other, a mere 1000 feet or about 300 metres below or above another plane. This is called the \u201cReduced Vertical Separation Minimum\u201d. This increases airspace capacity while maximising traffic flows.<\/p>\n

Every type of plane has a peak efficiency at specific altitudes \u2013 usually above 29,000 feet \u2013 where air density, temperature and drag require less fuel to burn.<\/p>\n

The modern commercial jet is designed for maximum efficiency with minimal emissions (newer models can be up to 25 per cent more efficient than the previous generation). When planes can\u2019t fly at the optimal level, they incur a \u201cfuel burn penalty\u201d.<\/p>\n

Think of it like driving a car with underinflated tyres: more fuel is needed to achieve the same speed and distance.<\/p>\n

Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum actually doubles the capacity of routes, which enhances traffic flow, improves on-time performance and cuts delays.<\/p>\n

So while there are optimal altitudes for flight, what\u2019s happening on the ground is increasingly complicating things.<\/p>\n

Before 2022, there were dozens of daily Europe-to-Asia flights crossing Russian airspace. After the conflict began, many of those airlines had to reroute via Turkey, the South Caucasus and Central Asia. That adds two to four hours to flight time and up to 12 tonnes of additional fuel burn per leg of the trip, changing the economics of these flights.<\/p>\n

Ivona Siniarska, managing director of Melbourne-based travel agency Take Off Go, says that worries about route safety are increasingly balanced against considerations around pricing holiday airfares. \u201cSome of the options avoiding the region have become incredibly expensive and in some cases cost-prohibitive,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

For that reason, some Australians, wanting to avoid the Middle East, have turned to China-based airlines as an option for travel to Europe.<\/p>\n

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines director general Wong Hong says he has seen airlines and hubs in the Asia-Pacific pivot to capture traffic from routes crossing the Gulf. \u201cBut how much of that traffic has permanently shifted is an interesting question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hubs such as Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur were already busy serving existing demand, Hong says, so they didn\u2019t have unlimited excess capacity to offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho exactly will be the winners? Is it some of the Chinese carriers? Some of the Asian carriers? Or even the Europeans? I think this will still play itself out,\u201d Hong says.<\/p>\n

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"ChrisChris Zappone<\/a> is a senior reporter covering aviation and business. He is former digital foreign editor.Connect via X<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 26, 2026 \u2014 5:00am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-612108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}