Cathay Pacific says it has stopped flying over Iraqi airspace

Major airlines including Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines said they had stopped flying over Iraq in the wake of its air strikes on Islamist fighters.

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Cathay Pacific is one of the airlines that said they had stopped flying over Iraq.

Published: 6:45am, 10 Aug 2014Updated: 9:31am, 10 Aug 2014

Major airlines including Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines said they had stopped flying over Iraq, after Washington announced a ban on overflights by US airlines in the wake of its air strikes on Islamist fighters.

A Cathay Pacific spokeswoman confirmed the airline had "stopped flying over the concerned Iraqi airspace very recently" but did not say exactly when.

"We proactively review areas of concern to ensure a safe flight operation. This is an ongoing process of evaluation that involves both internal and external parties."

A Singapore Airlines spokesman said "we have not been routing our flights over Iraq for some time now", but also declined to specify when flights started avoiding Iraqi airspace.

China Southern Airlines and China Eastern did not respond to inquiries yesterday.

Flights to and from the Persian Gulf and beyond, which typically would have crossed Iraq, now favour parallel routes via Iran instead, according to real-time flight-tracking websites. Flightradar24.com indicated a long stream of airliners flying single file above western Iran - and virtually none over Iraq - a reversal from a month ago.

Cathay Pacific says it has stopped flying over Iraqi airspace

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Major airlines including Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines said they had stopped flying over Iraq in the wake of its air strikes on Islamist fighters.

Major airlines including Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines said they had stopped flying over Iraq in the wake of its air strikes on Islamist fighters.