A Look At the Airlines Who Are Flying Over Warzones

War Zones Don't Deter Some Carriers -- Wall Street Journal

Malaysia Airlines Flies Over Conflict Areas Days After Flight 17 Is Downed in Ukraine

Four days after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine, the carrier and other major airlines are still flying over war zones, underscoring how crucial that airspace is to the industry.

Airlines have discretion to plan flight routes along airways they think are safe, but rely on governments to issue warnings if they deem airspace unsafe. The decision by some airlines to fly over war zones—while others avoid them—underscores the complexity flight routing presents for industry and governments.

A leading global air-safety organization on Monday called for a sweeping review of the procedures aviation regulators use to warn airliners about potential hazards from flying over combat zones. The Flight Safety Foundation called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to hold a high-level meeting about "the systems in place to warn airlines of hostile airspace." ICAO, an arm of the United Nations, typically is the world-wide clearinghouse for notices to pilots and airlines about potential overflight dangers.

Read more ....

My Comment: U.S. airlines are barred from flying over Iraq .... but that is not stopping other airlines.