Airlines have diverted more flights over the past week using Afghan airspace to avoid Iranian airspace, according to data, increasing flight times and fuel costs in the latest upheaval in routes between Asia and Europe. as tensions in the Middle East remain tense.

Flights over Afghanistan had already been increasing in recent months, but the wait for an Israeli response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel last week has fueled that trend, according to data from FlightRadar24.

Last week the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a warning to air carriers to avoid Iranian airspace.

According to FlightRadar24 data, 132 overflights were recorded over Afghanistan on September 29.

On October 2, the day after Iran attacked Israel, the number of such flights in Afghan airspace increased to 176.

By October 6, the daily tally had risen steadily to 222.

Taliban officials said the number of overflights was even higher in recent days than FlightRadar24 figures show.

“In particular, in the last five or six days, about 350 flights transiting Afghanistan within 24 hours, compared to about 100 similar flights (a year ago)” said Ihamudin Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Taliban government’s transport ministry.

According to FlightRadar24 data yesterday, British Airways and Singapore Airlines used Afghan airspace.

The data did not show which airlines used Afghan airspace the most in the past week.

British Airways and Singapore Airlines did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Many airlines had begun to fly through Iran and the Middle East since Russian and Ukrainian airspace remain closed to most Western carriers since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The new rerouting shows the difficult calculations airlines are being forced to make as airspace security in the Middle East becomes more precarious and fears of regional war grow a year after the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

“What was already a very limited set of route options is now about the last options available – so Afghanistan is seeing more trafficsaid Mark Zhe, founder of flight risk information exchange organization OPSGROUP.

Air traffic control for carriers flying over Afghanistan has been unavailable since the Taliban seized power three years ago – leaving airlines to rely on directives from regulators.

“I expect this avoidance of Iranian, and possibly Iraqi, airspace to continue for several weeks at least until either Israel makes a move or the situation calms downZe said.