Panelists at Routes Asia 2026.
XI'AN, China—Airports are adjusting to changes in passenger and cargo flows as travel patterns shift across global aviation networks, delegates at Routes Asia 2026 have heard.
Speakers on a panel discussing the impact of the geopolitical crisis in the Middle East said the current environment is less about overall demand loss and more about how traffic is being redistributed—and how exposed airports and airlines have become to concentrated flows through key hubs and corridors.
At Istanbul Airport, the immediate impact has been a combination of reduced capacity and increased transfer traffic. Aviation Development Director Fırat Ocak said the airport is canceling about 8% to 10% of its capacity, resulting in the loss of around 20,000 passengers per day. At the same time, Istanbul has seen a surge in connecting passengers as traffic shifts away from traditional transfer hubs.
“We’ve seen incredible high load factors on Southeast Asia and Asia routes,” Ocak said, adding that passengers unable to transit through other hubs are increasingly rerouting via Istanbul.
However, he cautioned that the ability to capture additional traffic is constrained. “There is not enough widebodies to carry all those passengers,” he said, pointing to aircraft availability and bilateral restrictions.
A similar pattern is emerging in Northern Europe. Petri Vuori, senior vice president of route development at Finavia, said Asia-bound services have filled quickly as passengers are reallocated across different routings.
“Existing Asian flights are suddenly full because the reroutings are happening,” Vuori said, adding that the airport has seen around 20,000 additional passengers per month in the short term. But he emphasized that the experience is reinforcing longer-term planning adjustments already underway following earlier disruptions to Europe-Asia connectivity.
More News And Analysis From Routes Asia 2026
In Australia, airports are seeing more pronounced changes in both passenger and cargo flows. At Brisbane Airport, Head of Aviation Business Development Anthony Cicuttini said demand was rapidly redirected across alternative routes. “In the first week of the conflict [in Iran], we were recapturing about 75% of that demand through various means in Southeast Asia,” he said. He added that load factors on some services rose sharply “within a matter of days.”
Cicuttini said that even unconventional routings, including services via North America, have seen strong uptake as passengers seek alternatives.
For Adelaide Airport, the impact extends beyond passenger traffic. Head of Aviation Business Development Jonathan Cheong said disruptions to long-haul connectivity are affecting freight flows, particularly for exports to Europe and the Middle East. “We export more than 1,000 tons to the UAE … that is impacting us quite a bit,” Cheong said.
To mitigate the impact, Adelaide has worked with airlines and partners to redirect both passenger and cargo traffic via alternative hubs in Asia. “It’s still the same destination, but it’s on a different route,” Cheong said, pointing to increased use of connections through Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China.
In the Gulf region, airports are also adapting their roles. Oman Airports CCO Jeremy Pennington said the focus has been on operational resilience and capturing shifting flows. “We have to adapt … our passenger traffic and our operational resilience will be tested,” Pennington said.
He added that Oman has seen growth in transfer traffic and cargo, including emerging flows linking China with Africa, as the airport positions itself as an alternative transit point.
Across the panel, a consistent theme was that while traffic can be redirected, it cannot be fully replaced. The scale of connectivity typically provided by major transfer hubs—linking hundreds of city pairs through coordinated banks of flights—cannot be easily replicated given constraints on aircraft, airport capacity and regulatory frameworks.
Airports are instead focusing on strategies to reduce exposure to single markets or routes. As Vuori said, adapting to disruption requires a shift in mindset. “We just have to roll up our sleeves and start doing something, not just waiting … and expecting things to go back to normal.”
Related Content
