Afghanistan sees 500% surge in air traffic amid Iran-Israel conflict

As Iran-Israel conflict shuts down much of the Middle Eastern airspace, Afghanistan has unexpectedly become a major aerial corridor, with international airlines diverting their routes over the country to maintain connections between Asia, Europe, and North America.

Since Israel began its military campaign against Iran on June 13, daily commercial overflights across Afghanistan have surged to an average of 280, a huge rise from just 50 a day last month, according to aviation data from Flightradar24.

The growing danger posed by flying through Iranian, Iraqi, Syrian, and Lebanese skies has forced airlines to abandon one of the busiest aviation corridors in the world.

With the US weighing possible involvement in the conflict, the disruption has deepened, prompting carriers such as American Airlines and Air France-KLM to scale back their services in the region.

Although Afghanistan’s airspace was largely avoided after the Taliban's return to power in 2021, restrictions were eased in 2023 following the US withdrawal.

Since late last year, more carriers cautiously resumed using routes over Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. Flights over the latter have doubled to 1,400 daily in recent days.

The uptick in traffic is proving financially advantageous for the Taliban government, which is reportedly collecting $700 per flight in overflight fees through intermediaries. With hundreds of aircraft now passing through Afghan skies daily, the regime could be earning well over $1 million a week.