Major international airlines including Emirates and Etihad announced on Friday they are rerouting some of their flights to avoid a passenger jet being mistakenly identified as a military aircraft and potentially shot down.
The potential for such a disaster is fresh in the minds of airlines and policymakers following the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014.
Iran Air Flight 655 was accidentally shot down by the US Navy over the Strait of Hormuz on July 3, 1988, killing all 290 people on board.
Speaking to Rudaw English on Saturday, Anwar Hama Amin, commander of the Iraqi Air Force, said there had been no changes to the flight routes of airlines operating from Iraqi and the Kurdistan Region’s airports.
Amin downplayed the potential threat, saying aviation authorities have not even discussed the issue. In fact, Iraq’s airspace has seen an increase in flights in recent weeks, he added.
The US military confirmed an RQ-4A Global Hawk High-Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) was shot down over international waters in the early hours of Thursday morning local time. Iran insists it fired on the drone after it entered its airspace.
US President Donald Trump claims he called off a retaliatory strike on several Iranian targets at the last minute, which could have resulted in 150 Iranian casualties. He said such a move would not have been proportionate.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an emergency order on Thursday prohibiting US flight operators flying over the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman.
Flight trackers showed several airlines complied with the ban and rerouted.
Some of the flights rerouting to avoid the area of Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, where the FAA has prohibited US airlines to operate. Other carriers often follow FAA guidance as well. https://t.co/fIFUQlxBtf pic.twitter.com/WokkvxJzGz
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) June 21, 2019
The US ban does not apply to airlines from other countries, but OPSGROUP, which provides guidance to operators, said carriers globally would take it into consideration.
“Since MH17, all countries rely on advice from the US, the UK, France, and Germany to highlight airspace risk,” it said Friday, according to Reuters.
“The threat of a civil aircraft shootdown in southern Iran is real,” it added.
Sulaimani’s international airport told Rudaw English on Saturday there had been no changes to flight routes among its partner airlines.
Dana Mohammed, spokesman for Sulaimani International Airport, said: “There have not been any changes in the routes.”
Airport management has not discussed the issue with airlines, but is monitoring the situation, he said. Responsibly for changing flight routes lies with the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority and the airlines themselves.
Rudaw English has approached the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority and Erbil and Baghdad’s international airports for comment, but is yet to receive a reply.
The Kurdistan Region’s airports saw a significant rise in the number of travelers in the first five months of 2019.
According to data supplied to Rudaw by Erbil and Sulaimani airports, 901,220 passengers arrived and departed between January 1 and May 31 – an average of 6,000 people per day. Erbil alone saw 369,779 departures and 361,441 arrivals – a total of 731,220.
Tensions between Iran and the US reached a new high after the drone incident on Thursday. They have been gradually escalating since Trump decided to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in May 2018 and reimposed a raft of sanctions on Iran’s economy.
The US has deployed an aircraft carrier group, bombers, and hundreds more troops to the Persian Gulf, but insists it wants negotiations with Iran.
Washington has accused Tehran of attacking at least six tankers in the Persian Gulf and of trying to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran denies any role in the recent tanker explosions and insists it is abiding by the terms of the nuclear deal.
The UK’s Middle East minister Andrew Murrison will visit Iran on Sunday to offer mediation in the dispute. Previous attempts to reduce tensions by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas have failed to deescalate the situation.
