A
no-fly area declared in eastern Ukraine after the downing of the
Malaysian Air Flight 17 is a rare restriction shared with rogue states
like North Korea, prompting airlines including Deutsche Lufthansa AG
(LHA) to question whether rules for flights over war ...
A no-fly area declared in eastern Ukraine after the downing of the
Malaysian Air Flight 17 is a rare restriction shared with rogue states
like North Korea, prompting airlines including Deutsche Lufthansa AG (LHA) to question whether rules for flights over war zones need tightening.
While skies over trouble spots such as Libya and Syria
are avoided by some airlines on an ad hoc basis, official airspace
closures are generally declared by the countries affected and limited to
events such as the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks or volcanic
eruptions that can create dangerous ash clouds.
Lufthansa joined
calls from Dubai-based Emirates, the No. 1 airline by international
traffic, for a response to Malaysian Air Flight 17 that confronts
concerns about a policy that permits high-altitude flights over areas
where wars are raging. Carriers favors a conference that includes the
United Nations-backed International Civil Aviation Organization and
regulators such as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency, as well as airlines.
“Ukraine
is closed now, but apart from that, North Korea is pretty much the only
true no-go area for any airline around the world,” said Philip
Plantholt of Flightradar24, an aircraft tracking service, adding that
the Northeast Asian state was singled out because “no one wants to get
caught in a missile testing exercise there.”
Photographer: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images
A man stands next to the wreckage of the malaysian airliner after it crashed, near the... Read More
‘United Response’
Flight MH17 was following a
regular route when targeted by a missile strike, having followed the
same path five days in the prior week, according to Flightradar24. In
the week before the tragedy, some 820 flights traversed eastern Ukraine,
with two -- flown by Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA) and Air India Ltd. (BHARTI) -- within 16 miles of the Malaysian jet when it was blown up. James Hogan, chief executive officer at Etihad Airways PJSC, a specialist in intercontinental flights linking Europe and Asia
via its Abu Dhabi hub, said it’s “imperative” that carriers be able to
operate in an environment without undue safety risks, and that ICAO, the
International Air Transport Association and other impartial bodies should take the lead.
“The
MH17 tragedy does change things, which is why a united response is
needed to ensure we have the right information at our disposal and
maintain safety in the air,” Hogan said in an e-mailed response to
questions.
The non-profit Flight Safety Foundation also said that the current system requires a revamp.
Longer Routes
If
nations “cannot discharge their responsibilities to manage their
airspace safely,” ICAO should take the lead in prohibiting airlines from
flying, Jon Beatty, president of the Arlington, Virginia-based
foundation, said in a statement.
IATA, the airline industry's
Geneva-based trade group, also put the onus on political leaders and
regulators. ``Governments will need to take the lead in reviewing how
airspace risk assessments are made,'' CEO Tony Tyler said yesterday in a statement.
Specific
guidance is made available to pilots via Safety Information Bulletins
and “Notices to Airmen” or NOTAMs, though these generally relate to
specific hazards, and flights over areas subject to occasional military
activity, such as Afghanistan and Yemen, put the onus on airlines to
balance the risks against the complications of taking alternative
routes.
Diversions from the shortest great-circle path add more
miles, increasing fuel consumption and forcing carriers to examine new
factors including risks from adverse weather and the availability of
alternate airports for unscheduled landings.
Libya Shelling
Still, the cost of avoiding Ukraine
on Europe-Asia trips is “negligible,” adding only minutes to flights,
according to Mi-Kyung Lee, a spokeswoman for Lufthansa, whose planes
crossed the airspace where MH17 was shot down 56 times in the prior
week, alongside dozens of other carriers, according FlightRadar24.
Preferred
routings can change quickly in response to operations on the ground,
with large parts of Syria -- which the FAA has urged U.S. carriers to
avoid because of reports of surface-to-air missile firings -- today
overflown only by local carriers, and Tripoli in Libya, a diversionary
airport for jets to South Africa, now being largely avoided after a week of fighting and shelling, according to FlightRadar24’s Planthold.
Charts of recent routings also shows that carriers are shifting flights into Iranian airspace from the skies over northern Iraq
after al-Qaeda breakaway group Islamic State took control of parts of
the country, though they’re still free to persist with operations on the
popular Europe-Asia flightpath.
Crimea Concern
“That’s
a well-frequented route so a lot of carriers will have to ask
themselves if they want to continue using it,” Planthold said.
Restrictions issued by aviation agencies are often of a technical nature and less reflective of military dangers.
Airspace
over the Crimea was deemed unsafe by EASA in April not because of any
missile threat but to reflect the potential for confusion as air traffic
control agencies from both Ukraine and Russian claimed authority in the
region.
“Only a government can close its airspace, and apart
form eastern Ukraine, all airspaces are open,” Dominique Fouda, a
spokesman for EASA, said of the European agency’s region. “If an
airspace is open, each airline decides for themselves.”
There’s
also no evidence of carriers switching to more conservative flight paths
following the downing of Flight MH17, in which 298 passengers and crew
were killed, he said.
Some restrictions may be self-imposed and motivated by politics, with many airlines from the Gulf choosing not to fly over Israel to avoid paying royalties for listing Tel Aviv as a diversionary airport, according to Flightradar24.
Having re-routed away from Ukraine, Malaysian Air Flight 4 from Kuala Lumpur to London
yesterday crossed Syria, according to FlightRadar24 data -- a permitted
path but one long avoided by some of the industry’s biggest carriers.
“You don’t find British Airways, United Airlines (UAL) or Emirates flying over Syria,” said FlightRadar24’s Mikael Robertsson. “They’ve been avoiding Syria for more than a year.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Richard Weiss in Frankfurt at rweiss5@bloomberg.net; Alan Levin in Washington at alevin24@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net
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