Qantas reroutes Perth-London flights on Middle East tensions

FILE PHOTO: Qantas planes are seen at a domestic terminal at Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia, November 16, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s Qantas Airways (QAN.AX) said on Saturday it had temporarily rerouted flights between Perth and London on concerns about the Middle East, as expectations rose of an attack by Iran on Israel.

“We’re temporarily adjusting the flight paths for our flights between Perth and London due to the situation in parts of the Middle East,” a Qantas spokesperson said. “We’ll reach out to customers directly if there’s any change to their booking.”

Qantas said no flights between Perth, the capital of Western Australia state, and London had been paused or cancelled but that flights on the route were operating on an adjusted flight path via Singapore.

The Sydney-based airline’s other flights to and from London remained unchanged as they take different flight paths.

Israel on Friday braced for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of retaliation for the killing last week of a senior officer in Iran’s embassy in Damascus. U.S. President Joe Biden said he expected an attack “sooner, rather than later” but warned Tehran not to proceed.

(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by William Mallard)