Australian carrier Qantas has no plans to stop flying over Iraqi airspace, despite rival airline Emirates re-routing flights to avoid the area.
The Dubai carrier’s president and CEO Tim Clark said the MH17 crash in Ukraine has "changed everything" and believed other airlines “would follow suit”.
However, Qantas said routes will be continually reviewed but at present there are no plans to change any flight paths.
A spokesperson for Qantas, said: “There is no suggestion that flying over Iraq is unsafe for commercial airlines, particularly given the cruising altitude that most, including Qantas, maintain,” a spokesperson for the airline said.
“We will continue to monitor the situation, with safety as our top priority.”
It also appears British Airways won’t be looking to change routes to avoid Iraqi airspace.
“Every airline makes its own decisions and we would never comment on the operations of any other airline,” a BA spokesperson told The Times.
“We keep our routes under constant review and we would never operate a flight unless we were satisfied that it was safe to do so.”
BritishAirways.com
Emirates.com
Qanatas.com