News

Qantas: 'Flying over Iraq is safe'

29 Jul 2014 by GrahamSmith

Qantas has no plans to discontinue operating its aircraft over Iraq, despite Emirates' announcement that it will no longer fly over the country.

The Australian airline last night said that "there is no suggestion that flying over Iraq is unsafe for commercial airlines".

Emirates CEO Tim Clark had earlier announced that his airline will in the next week or so start using alternate routes around the country due to concerns that Islamic militants could use a missile to bring down a passenger plane (see news, July 28).

Earlier this month, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and carrying 298 people was shot down over Ukraine (see news, July 17).

British Airways said it is keeping its options open, but it appears the airline currently has no plans to avoid Iraqi airspace.

A spokesman said: "Every airline makes its own decisions and we would never comment on the operations of any other airline.

"We keep our routes under constant review and we would never operate a flight unless we were satisfied that it was safe to do so."

Last week, Clark called for an international airline conference to discuss how best to respond to the Malaysia Airlines disaster (see news, July 21).

qantas.com, ba.com

Graham Smith

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