More than 80 flights to multiple destinations were diverted last night after the airspace over large parts of the Middle East was temporarily closed as Iran launched a missile attack on Israel.

Several countries in the region closed their airspace ahead of the attack, including Israel, Iran, Jordan and Iraq.

It meant flights heading southeast of Ankara in Turkey were forced to divert to airports including Ankara, Vienna and Larnaca.

Many flights that had only just taken off from European airports when the ‘notice to airmen’ was issued opted to return to base.

Several flights from the UK are understood to have been diverted, including Emirates’ services to Dubai.

Worst affected airlines overall, according to Flightradar24, were Qatar with 29 diversions, Emirates with 26 and Kuwait Airways with five.

Countries had mostly re-opened their airspace by 8pm last night, but further disruption is possible since Israel has threatened retaliation for Iran’s attack.

In a televised statement, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was ‘deeply concerned’ that the Middle East region ‘was on the brink’.

The Foreign Office had earlier issued travel alerts for multiple countries in the region, including popular winter sun destinations, and chartered a plane to evacuate British citizens from Lebanon.

Image is from Flightradar24’s X account