Singapore: The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued an emergency order prohibiting American airlines from flying over water in Tehran-controlled airspace in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman due to heightened tensions.
FAA said according to flight tracking applications, the nearest civil aircraft was operating within around 45 nautical miles (83 kilometres) of a US Global Hawk drone when it was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile on Thursday.
The order came hours after United Airlines suspended flights between New Jersey’s Newark airport and the Indian financial capital of Mumbai, which fly through Iranian airspace, following a safety review following the drone incident.
The downing of the unarmed Global Hawk aircraft, which can fly at up to 60,000 feet (18,300 metres), was the latest of a series of incidents in the Gulf region, a critical artery for global oil supplies, that included explosive strikes on six oil tankers.
“There were numerous civil aviation aircraft operating in the area at the time of the intercept,” FAA said.
The agency said it remained concerned about the escalation of tension and military activity within close proximity to high volume civil aircraft routes as well as Iran’s willingness to use long-range missiles in international airspace with little or no warning.
Read the article in The Sydney Morning Herald (Reuters).