New Delhi: In view of security situation building up over the Persian Gulf due to geopolitical tensions between United States and Iran, all Indian flight operators have decided to avoid the affected part of Iranian airspace for the time being and re-route their flight
“All Indian operators in consultation with Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have decided to avoid the affected part of Iranian Airspace to ensure safe travel for the passengers. They will re-route flights suitably,” the DGCA said.
The Iranian airspace is an important transit route between several countries. However, Air India chairman and managing director (CMD) Ashiwni Lohani said that there will be no substantial effect on Air India flights and details are being worked out for re-routing on incoming flights. Iran had on Thursday shot down a sophisticated US military drone spotted near its airspace, triggering a warning from American aviation regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), about a possibility of a US commercial aircraft being mistakenly targeted in Iranian airspace. With memories of shooting down of Malaysian Airlines MH-17 over eastern Ukraine still fresh in which 298 people had died, none of the airlines are willing to take a chance. Following the FAA NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) on Friday, all major airlines around the world have started skirting the Iranian airspace and re-routing their aircraft to avoid and danger.
FAA had on Friday issued a NOTAM prohibiting US-registered aircraft from operating “in the overwater area of the Tehran Flight Information Region above the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman until further notice, “due to heightened military activities and increased political tensions in the region which present an inadvertent risk to US civil aviation and potential for miscalculation or misidentification.”
The FAA further said that the risk to US civil aviation is demonstrated by the Iranian surface-to-air missile shoot down of a US unmanned aircraft system on June 19 while it was operating above Gulf of Oman.
