Cathay Pacific not changing routes despite crew’s suspected sighting of North Korean missile test
Airline confirms that crew on CX893 reported incident on November 29, though flight operations were unaffected
Cathay Pacific Airways has confirmed crew on a Hong Kong-bound flight from San Francisco reported a suspected sighting of the latest North Korean missile test on Wednesday – but the airline added it had no plans to alter routes in the region.
Other aircraft were also in the area at the time of the missile launch, according to radar information. Taiwanese carrier China Airlines’ flight from Vancouver and Eva Air from Seattle, both headed to Taipei, and Japan’s All Nippon Airways’ Frankfurt flight from Tokyo, were over the area where the rogue state’s missile terminated.
Hugging Japan’s east coast over the Pacific Ocean is one of the prime air routes used by hundreds of flights every day criss-crossing Asia and North America. One of the other prime air routes directs planes over northern China and into Russia
An airline spokeswoman said on Sunday that the crew on flight CX893 reported a sighting of what was suspected to be the re-entry of the missile at 2.18am Hong Kong time on November 29.
According to online trackers, the flight was over Japan when the missile was launched.
“Though the flight was far from the event location, the crew advised Japan [air traffic control] according to procedure,” she said, adding that flight operations had remained normal and were not affected.