The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, now in its third week, has thrown global aviation into turmoil, with flights cancelled, rescheduled and rerouted, as most Middle East airspace remains shut over fears of missile and drone attacks

International News via Reuters:

The United Arab Emirates briefly closed its airspace on Tuesday in response to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran, a second straight day of aviation disruption after a drone caused a fire near Dubai airport on Monday.

The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, now in its third week, has thrown global aviation into turmoil, with flights cancelled, rescheduled and rerouted, as most Middle East airspace remains shut over fears of missile and drone attacks.

Many Gulf-based airlines have been operating only a fraction of their pre-war flights, although Dubai-based Emirates has had fewer cancellations than some others. Monday’s closure caused a sharp drop, according to data from Flightradar.com, which did not yet have data available for Tuesday.

The war has disrupted travel via the busy Gulf region, a key global hub between Europe and Asia, sent fuel charges and ticket prices surging, hit flows of goods such as critical medicines and thrown holiday plans into disarray.

The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority said flights had returned to normal on Tuesday after earlier announcing the temporary airspace closure, state media agency WAM reported.

WINNERS AND LOSERS AMONG AIRLINES, HOLIDAY DESTINATIONS

The war has hit the region’s huge airline groups, including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, flydubai and others.

Germany’s Lufthansa expects the dominance of those Gulf carriers on Asian routes to be diminished by the conflict, its CEO Carsten Spohr told business magazine Manager Magazin in an interview published on Tuesday.

In a signal that it could take weeks, if not months, for Middle East airspace to return to normal, IAG-owned British Airways extended cancellations of flights to Dubai, Bahrain and Tel Aviv until June and is adding routes elsewhere.

The airline is adding more flights to destinations such as Singapore and Bangkok, which it said was in response to the conflict in the Middle East. It added that more customers were looking for “alternative getaways” in places like the Caribbean.

“We know there is short-term demand as a result of the situation in the Middle East,” Neil Chernoff, British Airways Chief Planning and Strategy Officer, said in a statement.

“To support customers with alternative routes from popular destinations we have already launched additional flights, and we will continue to monitor customer demand and add flights to our schedule if we’re able to do so.”

Reporting by Enas Alashray and Federico Maccioni in Dubai; Writing by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Tom Hogue and Peter Graff

Digital minister Karsten Wildberger proposed a range of measures, including dedicating land for development, that ministers are due to approve on Wednesday

International News via Reuters:

Germany plans to encourage investments in data centres to at least double domestic capacity and to boost artificial intelligence data processing at least fourfold by 2030, the government said on Tuesday.

In a bid to catch up with the dominant players the United States and China, digital minister Karsten Wildberger proposed a range of measures, including dedicating land for development, that ministers are due to approve on Wednesday.* Under the scheme, municipal business taxes will go to thetown or city that attracts the new centre, no longer to wherethe company is headquartered * Regulatory reviews are to speed up and collaborationbetween the different companies in the AI supply chain will beencouraged * “We welcome investment from third countries,” according toa document published by the digital ministry. It is, however,primarily targeting European and German companies   * Amazon, Microsoft, Google are among the biggest spenderson German data infrastructure * German players include Deutsche Telekom, unlisted SchwarzGroup * AI data centres in Germany boasted total capacity of 530MW at the end of last year, much of that operated by non-Germanproviders, according to figures from German lobby group Bitkom * European countries are pushing for more sovereign controlover AI infrastructure due to a rise in tariffs, armed conflictsand sharply diverging online-content regulation

($1 = 0.8640 euros)

Reporting by Andreas RinkeWriting by Ludwig BurgerEditing by Madeline Chambers

Greece is a dominant force in global shipping, controlling one of the world’s largest merchant fleets

International News via Reuters:

Greece does not back any separate deals that would allow ships to enter and exit the Strait of Hormuz but wants a durable solution to safeguard peace in the region, its Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis said on Tuesday.

“We do not think that it is optimal to have separate agreements, so that ships enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz,” Gerapetritis told reporters alongside his German counterpart Johann  Wadephul in Berlin.

“What we want is a well-established lasting solution, which will ensure peace and this can only be done under a wider alliance and under the auspices of international organizations and in particular the United Nations,” he said.

Greece is a dominant force in global shipping, controlling one of the world’s largest merchant fleets. Many ships that are Greek owned or managed are in the wider Gulf area, with crews including dozens of Greek seafarers.

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz – a vital gateway for about 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas trade – has been disrupted amid the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. 

Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Aidan Lewis