Airlines in emergency Syria plan The Emirates president has had experience of managing the airline through multiple regional conflicts including both Gulf wars. He said that measures may involve shifting flights away from Syrian air space in the event of a military strike. "If that does happen we will take any measures that we have to, to circumvent the areas," he said. A spokesman for Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, said: "We have drawn up robust flight re-routing contingency plans in the event of any airspace being closed to commercial aircraft." British Airways said that it would be affected if the country's airspace and surrounding areas become a no-fly zone. "We are keeping our operations under review and we would make any changes that would be necessary," a spokesman for BA said. Airlines also face a threat from a potential spike in the oil price as a result of the growing tensions in the Middle East. John Strickland, a London-based aviation analyst at JLS Consulting, said passengers should expect disruptions to travel plans if a conflict breaks out in the region. "We shouldn't magnify it out of proportion but what we have seen from other wars or military actions in the Gulf is flight routings may need to change," said Mr Strickland. That can disrupt schedules of course because if you're having to follow more secure routings you're not able to run to your normal schedule and that directly feeds through to airlines having to burn more fuel. Brent crude hit $117 a barrel on Wednesday, its highest level since February, as investors grew nervous over the possibility of disruption to oil supplies if a military intervention takes place. The oil price settled to $114 a barrel on Friday but the relatively small size of the fall suggests the market anticipates a strong likelihood of an American-led air strike. "Even if no physical event happens you have the jitters in the oil market and price spikes and we have started to see that already happening," said Mr Strickland. Analysts at Société Générale are among those predicting Brent crude could surge by more than $30 a barrel if the conflict spreads to disrupt supply from other, more important, oil exporters in the Middle East. Several airline stocks took a hammering last week as a result of fears over oil prices. Shares in International Airlines Group, which owns British Airways and Iberia of Spain, lost 10.1pc last week to close at 286p while easyJet, also a constituent of the FTSE 100, lost 3pc over the five days to end on Friday at £12.33. European airline stocks have also fallen sharply.