Several major airlines, including KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Lufthansa, Finnair, Wizz Air, IndiGo Airlines, and Singapore Airlines, have announced they are avoiding the Middle East amid a ramp-up of tension between Iran and the United States, while others have temporarily adjusted their schedules.

This followed a warning by US President Donald Trump that he was sending an "armada" of military aircraft carriers to monitor Iran's protest crackdown, while Tehran cautioned it would treat any attack as "all-out war," Reuters reported.

Airlines responded by adjusting their flight paths. "Due to the geopolitical situation, KLM is currently avoiding the airspace of Iran, Iraq, and Israel as a precaution, as well as the airspace over several countries in the Gulf region. This means that, until further notice, we will not be operating flights to Dubai International, Riyadh, Dammam, and Tel Aviv Ben Gurion," the Dutch carrier announced on January 24, adding it would continue to monitor the situation.

In an announcement to the travel industry, Lufthansa Group said its member airlines will not enter the airspaces of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Bahrain, until further notice. In addition, Lufthansa has suspended flights to Tehran Mehrabad until the end of the winter schedule (March 28, 2026), while Austrian Airlines' flights to Iran are suspended until February 16, 2026. Flights to Tel Aviv and Amman Queen Alia will continue to be operated as daylight services until January 31, allowing crews to return immediately without an overnight stay.

The group also warned that some flights could be cancelled, but that it was equally monitoring the situation closely. Eurowings flights between Dubai and Germany (Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg) have been refuelling in Thessaloniki, Greece, with accompanying delays, according to ADS-B data.

A Wizz Air spokesperson told Reuters that the company was avoiding Iraqi and Iranian airspace. "Therefore, some westbound flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi International airports will have to make (refuelling and crew change) stops in Larnaca, Cyprus or Thessaloniki, Greece," the representative said.

On January 18, Finnair equally said it was avoiding Iraqi airspace until further notice and that its flights from Dubai and Doha Hamad International, Qatar, to Helsinki Vantaa may take about an hour longer as a result.

India's IndiGo Airlines announced the cancellation of scheduled flights on January 26, 27, and 28 to/from Tbilisi, Georgia; Almaty International, Kazakhstan; Tashkent International, Uzbekistan; and Baku Heydar Aliev International, Azerbaijan. "We remain vigilant to developments in the region around Iran and are proactively reviewing flight operations," it said in a statement on social media.

Singapore Airlines and its budget subsidiary Scoot told The Straits Times that they are avoiding the airspace of Iraq and the Red Sea as a precautionary measure, but no significant impact on operations are expected. "SIA Group will continue to closely monitor the situation in the Middle East, and will adjust our flight paths as needed," a spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, an Air France representative confirmed to ch-aviation that the airline does not serve or overfly Iran. "We briefly suspended flights to Dubai on Friday (January 23), but flights resumed on Saturday (January 24). At this stage, Air France flights to/from the Middle East therefore operate normally," he said.

Reuters reported that British Airways suspended flights to Bahrain International on January 16 as a precautionary measure, saying it continued to closely review the situation in the region. Flights to Bahrain were once again available on the BA website on January 24, and a spokesperson for the airline said all its flights were going ahead as scheduled.