LONDON, March 21. /TASS/. The Middle East conflict has left global airlines facing their worst crisis since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Financial Times (FT) newspaper wrote.
According to its calculations, the market capitalization of twenty largest international air carriers whose shares are traded on stock exchanges has fallen by $53 bln since the beginning of the US and Israeli military operation against Iran. Meanwhile, investors expect a further decline in share prices. Wizz Air and EasyJet shares are experiencing the heaviest sell-offs on the London Stock Exchange, the newspaper said.
The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were also hit.
On March 11, a spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces’ Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters announced that Iran would not allow any oil cargo related to the United States or its allies to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. On March 15, he assured that Tehran would resort to any means, including control over the movement of ships in the Strait of Hormuz, to force the enemy to surrender.