US Warns Airlines to Use 'Caution' in Iran's Air Space
The Federal Aviation Administration issued a new warning to US airlines on Sunday to "exercise caution" when using Iranian air space due to military activity.
The new warning from the federal aviation body was issued on the day that last year's similar cautionary alert expired. This year's bulletin warns US commercial carriers that there's military activity taking place in Iran's air space related to the ongoing conflict in Syria. The warning also noted that an unidentified US airline was intercepted by fighter jets in Iranian airspace in December 2017.
After US President Donald Trump exited the Iran nuclear deal in May, which lifted government economic sanctions on the Middle Eastern nation in exchange for Iran halting its nuclear weapon development program, US airlines and international carriers have been pulling their service to Iran's capital city of Tehran. In the wake of the US' dissolution of the agreement, KLM, Air France, British Airways and Greek airline Aegean have all nixed their routes to Iran.
Alitalia, the Lufthansa Group, Kuwait Airways, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Turkish Airlines still operate direct flights to Iran and have not yet announced plans to end the routes.
H/T: Reuters