Official: Number Of Passing Flights Via Iran Airspace To Rise

Tehran, Aug 3, IRNA --The number of flights by the UAEˈs Emirates Airline through the Iranian airspace will increase after Ukraine closed its airspace following the crash of Malaysiaˈs MH17 flight, Deputy CEO for Aeronautical Operations at Iran Airports Company (IAC) announced. ˈThe Emirates Airlineˈs daily flights (through the Iranian airspace) will increase from 60 to 130,ˈ Ebrahim Shoushtari said on Saturday. He underlined that the Iranian airspace has the capacity to receive over 750 passing flights each day, adding that at present 545 flights pass through the Iranian airspace. Before the Malaysian planeˈs crash, 475 passing flights were made through Iranˈs airspace everyday, Shoushtari said. Last month Iran announced preparedness to open its airspace to passing flights after Ukraine closed its airspace following the Malaysian planeˈs crash. Deputy Head of Flight Standards of Civil Aviation Organization of Iran Hamid Habibi voiced the countryˈs readiness to admit some flights passing through the Iranian airspace. Following the Malaysian planeˈs crash in Ukraine and closing the countryˈs airspace, he declared Iranˈs readiness to admit passing flights which intend to change their route and use Iranˈs aerial space. A Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing-777 with over 290 people on board crashed in Ukraine, close to the border with Russia, on July 17. The shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines passenger plane occurred in rebel-controlled Eastern Ukraine by unknown persons. According to reports, the ill-fated Flight MH17 which originated from Amsterdam, Netherlands, en route Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, had about 193 Dutch; 43 Malaysians, including 15 crew members; 27 Australians; 12 Indonesians; 10 Britons; four Germans; four Belgians; three Filipinos and one national each from United States, Canada and New Zealand, on board. Earlier on Saturday, Australian airline, the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (QANTAS), announced that it has changed its flight path from Iraq to Iran. QANTAS declared that it has stopped its flights using Iraqi airspace in the wake of the MH17 disaster in Ukraine to avoid using the skies over conflict regions, adding that it preferred Iranˈs airspace for its regular flights. A QANTAS spokesman said the airline has closely monitored flight paths over conflict zones since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine two weeks ago. QANTAS stopped flying over war-stricken Iraq after the US Federal Aviation Administration raised the minimum ceiling for flights from 20,000ft to 30,000ft./end