European airlines are adding extra short notice flights to key Asian destinations as the Middle Eastern war enters a third week.
British Airways, Air France and Lufthansa Group are all offering additional flights to cities such as Singapore and Bangkok, while Air France is also operating extra services to Delhi in India.
The move comes as flights from the major Gulf hubs of Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi continue to be severely limited by the ongoing conflict in the region. These airports usually account for a significant portion of indirect capacity between Europe and Asia.
BA said it was offering extra flights this week from London Heathrow to both Singapore and Bangkok to “further support our customers”. The airline will operate an additional flight to Bangkok on Thursday (19 March), while also adding two services to Singapore on Monday (16 March) and Wednesday (18 March).
The UK carrier has cancelled flights to Amman, Bahrain, Dubai and Tel Aviv up to and including 31 May, while flights to Doha are cancelled until 30 April.
Meanwhile, Air France will also operate additional flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Bangkok, Singapore and Delhi in the next two weeks. This includes four additional flights to Bangkok during the period between 16 and 27 March, plus an extra flight to Singapore on Tuesday (17 March) and an additional service to Delhi on 23 March.
The airline added it was also using larger aircraft on existing scheduled services from Paris to Bangkok, Singapore, Delhi, Mumbai, Shanghai, Tokyo and Phuket.
Lufthansa Group had already announced plans to add more short notice long-haul flights to Asia and Africa during the next few weeks, with Lufthansa planning extra flights from Munich to Singapore, and Frankfurt to Cape Town. Austrian Airlines will also operate extra flights between Vienna and Bangkok.
In a similar move, Singapore Airlines will add extra flights from London Heathrow to Singapore in the next two weeks, with additional services operating on Wednesday (18 March) and 25 March. The carrier said it will use Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, fitted with four cabin classes, for these extra London-Singapore flights.