European agency warns airlines to avoid flights near Russian missiles

European agency warns airlines to avoid flights near Russian missiles

KÖLN, GERMANY — The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has warned airlines of the dangers of flying over Iran, Iraq and the Caspian Sea as Russia fires missiles at Syrian targets.

“EASA was informed from public sources of several launches of missiles from warships, located in the Caspian Sea, to Syria on 06 and 07 October 2015. Before reaching Syria, such missiles are necessarily crossing the airspace above Caspian Sea, Iran and Iraq, below flight routes which are used by commercial transport aeroplanes”, the report states.

Map of affected area from report:

European agency warns airlines to avoid flights near Russian missiles

The organization currently has no recommendations for airlines.

Bloomberg reported that Air France has made changes to their routes. They also reported that Lufthansa has made no changes and currently doesn’t see the need too.

This comes after findings from the Dutch Safety Board named Russia as the source of the cruise missile that downed Malaysia Airlines MH17 in Ukraine last year.

For more information, go to bloomberg.com and easa.europa.eu.

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