Ensuring safe travel, Indian airlines decide to avoid Iranian airspace

New Delhi, June 22: In order to ensure safe travel for passengers, India's aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation, DGCA, today said all Indian flight operators in consultation with it have decided to avoid the affected part of the Iranian airspace. They will also reroute their flight suitably.

 

The decision came amid rising tensions between the US and Iran.

Earlier on Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the US prohibited all US carriers and commercial operators from flying over Iranian airspace. "All flight operations in the overwater area of the Tehran Flight Information Region (FIR) (OIIX) above the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman only are prohibited until further notice due to heightened military activities and increased political tensions in the region, which present an inadvertent risk to U.S. civil aviation operations and potential for miscalculation or misidentification," the FAA said in a press release.

Following the FAA's decision, Etihad Airways consulted with the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority and other UAE airlines to evaluate the US action. Etihad Airways has subsequently suspended operations through Iranian airspace over the Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman and will use alternative flight paths on a number of routes to and from Abu Dhabi until further notice.

Meanwhile, Air India Chairman, Ashwani Lohani said that no substantial effect will be on flights of Air India. He said details are being worked out for rerouting on incoming flights