By Leo Mirani, Asia Correspondent, The Economist
cconsider this scenario: war in the Middle East closes the airspace above Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon. In the north, Russian airspace remains off-limits to Western airlines. Considering that most airlines have long avoided routes passing through Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, and many also avoid Afghanistan, the effect on aviation would be enormous. The world’s busiest routes would be squeezed into a few heavily congested corridors. There wouldn’t be room in the sky for all the east-west air traffic, said Thomas Jaeger, the founder of ch-aviation, a data company.