24 June 2025: The Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) is advising Australian travellers to remain informed about the situation in the Middle East and, most importantly, not to cancel their flights as doing so can seriously impact your rights on refunds and rebookings.
Airspace closures over Qatar, Iran, Israel and Russia have significantly narrowed flight corridors into Europe, with delays and route diversions common.
Airlines have well-established systems in place to navigate such restrictions, and have been operating under constrained conditions since the start of the Ukraine conflict. Travellers should expect some delays, but not panic.
ATIA encourages all travellers to:
- Avoid cancelling flights independently, when an airline cancels your flights you are entitled to a full refund.
- Monitor official travel advice, particularly via the SmartTraveller website.
- You will be contacted, your accredited travel agent or airline, will prioritise impacted travellers of delays and cancellations. Please do not contact your agent or airline now unless you’re travelling in the next three days to enable the needs of those travelling immediately to be accommodated.
- There is an increased chance of delays there is an increased chance of delays so be prepared that you maybe spending some time airports as a result of schedule adjustments.
This evolving situation reinforces the importance of booking through an ATIA Accredited Travel Business. Accredited agents and businesses are best placed to manage disruptions, rebook flights and ensure clients receive their full entitlements under Australian Consumer Law.
About us:
About ATIA (www.atia.travel):
The Australian Travel Industry Association (ATIA) is the peak body representing Australia’s $69 billion travel industry. ATIA represents the majority of Australian travel agents, corporate agents, tour operators, wholesalers and ITOs.
In 2024 alone, ATIA members booked $13.5 Billion TTV of retail bookings, $11.8 Billion of Corporate Bookings and $5.6 Billion of Land Operations. Typically, at least 70% of all international air sales in Australia are through our members, and over 90% of corporate sales (medium and large businesses), rather than directly through airlines. Whereas with cruises, 73% of travellers use travel advisors to book.
An impressive 92% of ATIA members are small businesses, with women making up 72% of the workforce.
ATIA administers the ATIA Accredited program, which is the largest and most representative accreditation scheme for travel businesses in Australia. ATIA represents over 1,120 ATIA Accredited members and over 28,000 employees nationwide, directly supporting 16.98 million Australian travellers every year.
Contact details:
For media enquiries or to set up an interview, please contact LJ Loch at [email protected] or 0488 038 555