Europe's aviation safety regulator has put the Gulf back on its no-go list. On Tuesday, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a fresh advisory telling airlines to steer clear of the airspace of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf of Oman — a reversal that comes just one week after it had withdrawn its previous warning during a brief lull in tensions.
The timing matters. Last month's interim ceasefire between Iran and Washington had allowed EASA to soften its advice, which had merely asked carriers to be careful over those Gulf states plus Israel, Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia. The new bulletin is stricter and runs until July 29. There is no guarantee it will be the last; if the fighting continues, expect extensions in the same pattern as the agency's separate ban on Iranian, Iraqi and Lebanese airspace, which was extended last week until the end of August.
What triggered the shift is a sharp escalation. Iran fired ballistic missiles at a US air base in Jordan on Tuesday, and US forces have been attacking for a third straight night after Iran announced on Saturday that it was closing the Strait of Hormuz. US President Donald Trump responded by reinstating a blockade of Iranian shipping and floating a 20% fee to protect the waterway.
EASA's reasoning is blunt: the region hosts major US military facilities, which makes the countries covered by the bulletin potential targets for Iranian missiles and drones. The agency also flagged a less obvious but serious risk — civil aircraft could be misidentified by American or other air defence systems operating in a high-alert environment. For anyone who remembers the 2020 shootdown of a passenger jet near Tehran, that concern is not theoretical.
If you have flights booked through the region in the coming weeks, this is worth watching closely. Expect rerouted long-haul services between Europe and Asia, longer flight times, and possible cancellations or schedule changes on routes touching Gulf hubs like Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi. Check with your airline before heading to the airport, and keep an eye on your travel insurance terms for conflict-related disruption — standard policies often exclude it, so know what yours covers before you need to claim.
