Air India, Jet Airways to avoid airspace over war-torn eastern Ukraine
New Delhi: Indian carriers, Air India and Jet Airways, will avoid the airspace of war-torn eastern Ukraine following a directive issued to them by the DGCA in the wake of reported shooting down of a Malaysian airliner in which all 298 people on board were killed on Thursday.
The aviation regulator, Director General of Civil Aviation issued instructions to Air India and Jet Airways, the only two Indian carriers that fly to Europe and North America, to avoid Ukrainian airspace while flying to and from destinations in both the continents, official sources said.
An Air India official said they would abide by any international advisory "to avoid airspace over conflict zone like Ukraine".
Airlines have to take a call on there routing to America and European destinations. There are several routes to go to the US and Europe and airlines have to take a call whether to abide by global aviation advisory on the such issues, sources said.
A Jet Airways spokesperson said in a statement that carrier would like to assure its guests that none of the Jet Airways flights to and from Europe fly through the Ukrainian airspace ever since the conflict began.
"We continue to avoid the Ukrainian airspace in the prime interest of the safety of our guests," the statement said.
All 298 people on board a Malaysia Airlines plane were killed on Thursday after the aircraft was shot down over war-torn eastern Ukraine near the Russian border.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew and could have been brought down by a ground-to-air missile.
