Mar 10, 2026, 3:21 p.mMar 10, 2026, 3:21 p.m
Lufthansa is benefiting from the canceled flights of its Arab competitors in long-haul traffic due to the war in the Middle East. The group now offers special flights to Asia and Africa. Swiss, however, is not planning any additional flights, as it announced on Tuesday upon request.
Lufthansa is now offering extra flights.Image: keystone
The Iran war is turning global air traffic upside down, and now Lufthansa is responding with extra flights to Asia and Africa. Lufthansa announced in Frankfurt that the group is launching additional long-haul connections at short notice due to the sharp increase in demand.
For the coming weeks, Lufthansa is planning four special flights from Munich to Singapore and back as well as two special flights from Frankfurt to Cape Town. In addition, two additional flights from Frankfurt to Riyadh are planned. Ten special flights from Vienna to Bangkok and back have already been set up for the subsidiary Austrian Airlines. The Lufthansa Group is monitoring market developments and is not ruling out further additional flights.
Lufthansa is therefore indirectly profiting from the turbulence that the conflict has triggered in global air traffic. Pre-bookings for direct flights to Asia are currently 75 percent higher than last year, said CEO Carsten Spohr recently when presenting the annual balance sheet in Frankfurt.
Swiss is staying aloof. No additional flights are currently planned, the airline said at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.
Still almost 2,500 stranded
According to figures from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs updated on Tuesday afternoon, there are still around 2,450 travelers from Switzerland in the Middle East on the list of the Travel Admin app. Most of them, 1,400, are in the United Arab Emirates, followed by Oman (310) and Qatar (270).
Among the Swiss living in the affected countries, Israel is at the top with 25,400 people, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 5,400 and Lebanon with 1,100 foreign citizens. (hkl/sda/dpa)