Commercial aviation in the Middle East has dropped by 60% compared to last year, according to Iranian media reports following unprecedented regional military escalations.
Commercial aviation and airspace usage in the Middle East have experienced a drastic collapse as the regional war intensifies. According to Iranian media outlets, regional flight traffic has dropped by more than half compared to the previous year.
The IRGC News Channel, a state-aligned outlet that reflects the military and editorial posture of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported the steep decline, stating outright: "War in the Middle East has reduced flights by 60 percent compared to last year."
This identical statistic was echoed by Akharin Khabar, a prominent and heavily trafficked mainstream Iranian news aggregator. The outlet published the exact same phrase to its broader domestic audience, cementing the narrative of severe regional disruption within Iranian domestic media.
Key Factors Disrupting Regional Airspace: The 60% reduction in flights directly follows an unprecedented wave of United States and Israeli airstrikes across Iran between March 9 and March 13, 2026, which reportedly decimated Iranian air defense networks and military infrastructure. US President Donald Trump recently declared the complete destruction of the Iranian Air Force and Navy, heavily altering the security environment of the region's airspace.Both source messages consisted of the exact same single sentence regarding the 60% drop in flights. The background context was utilized to properly explain the scale of the 'war in the Middle East' referenced by the Iranian channels, providing necessary context for the aviation collapse.