Several more airlines have opted to divert flights around Iraqi airspace, over fears of rocket attacks akin to Ukraine’s MH17 incident.
As the well financed and brutally violent Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) sweeps through large parts of the Iraqi and Syrian republics, Qantas and Lufthansa have decided to find alternative routes.
The carriers are heeding warnings from European and US regulators, and also follow Virgin Atlantic, Air France and Emirates in avoiding the burgeoning conflict hotspot.
Royal Jordanian, one of the main airlines serving Iraq, announced yesterday it had resumed flights following a 24 hour suspension due to security concerns. The statement from the airline did not clarify why its decision to halt flights "until further notice" had been reversed.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency has reported several major airlines are requesting permission to reroute flights through Iranian airspace as an alternative.
Meanwhile, BA and Etihad continue to fly over Iraq, which is fast being overrun by militant extremists across its central and northern territories.
An Etihad spokesperson issued a satement to media outlets that said: “There is no evidence that either the capability or the intent exists to target aircraft overflying Iraq, by either side of the current conflict in Iraq.”
“The nature of the current security environment in Iraq is significantly different than in the Ukraine," the spokesperson added.
BA will continue to fly over Iraqi airpsace
The boss of BA parent firm International Airlines Group, Willie Walsh, told the FT: “We fly over Iraq because we consider it safe – if we thought Iraq was unsafe we would not fly over Iraq,” but admitted the situation was confusing for customers.
The mounting conflict has led the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to urge American carriers to soar higher above the troubled OPEC nation. The regulator’s advice included flying at 30,000ft above Iraq, instead of the previous norm of 20,000ft.
The increased altitude is intended to deter any would-be attackers, though experts believe Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was cruising at 33,000ft when it was shot down over Ukraine.
