Costs doubled for routes to the East

The closure of the Gulf airspace had immediate repercussions on airline networks and skyrocketing flight prices between Asia and Europe. Some airlines, including Wizz Air and Lufthansa, changed routes, while Ryanair reported an increase in demand for short-haul flights, as Europeans decided to spend Easter close to home and not on a beach in the heat.

Some airlines are increasing capacity on Asian and African routes as Middle Eastern competitors such as Emirates, Qatar and Ethiad are still far from returning to normal as the Gulf airspace is still closed. Some carriers are taking advantage of this, as in the case of Chinese airlines that can take advantage of the opportunity to fly over Russia, an option prevented to most European carriers by the start of the war between Ukraine and Russia. Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines are taking advantage of the possibility to fly directly between Beijing and London, but at very high prices.

All of these airlines have commercial agreements with major European carriers such as Lufthansa, British Airways: a flight with China Eastern from London to Beijing direct of about 10 hours, departing today, costs £1,850 return from £851 before 28 February, according to Sky Scanner. Air China which flies to Europe in code-share with Lufthansa has added several flights from London to Beijing these days with prices of around £1,952 return. If you want to spend less, around £950, you can also choose Egypt Air from London Heathrow with a stopover in Cairo and three stopovers on the way back, Alma Ata in Kazakhstan, Istanbul in Turkey and Barcelona in Spain to end up in London after a 35-hour flight. Also according to SkyScanner data, direct flights from Seoul to London on 11 March with Korean Air Lines went from $564 before 28 February to $4,359 yesterday alone.

Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad normally carry about a third of all passengers from Europe to Asia and more than half of all passengers from Europe to Australia, New Zealand and the neighbouring Pacific islands. With these hubs temporarily disappearing, other hubs are emerging as alternatives as in the cases of Singapore and Hong Kong: the respective companies Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific fly directly from London without passing through Russia and many passengers are turning to these carriers to avoid the Middle Eastern hubs.

For these airlines, it is a golden opportunity as they have been presenting themselves on the market for years as an alternative to the Gulf carriers and have invested millions to make their respective ports of call attractive, with malls of the world's best brands, restaurants, in-house attractions, and the possibility of sightseeing with dedicated stop-overs