Malaysian Airlines In Hot Water Again, This Time For Flying Above War-Torn Syria

Fool me once, shame on you; fly civilains over a war-zone twice, shame on Malaysian Airlines. In what is perhaps the most incredulous news of today (aside from Kerry’s belief that he will make a difference in Gaza) is, as BNO reports, a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane flying from Kuala Lumpur to London flew over Syria on Sunday… The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other organizations have warned airlines for more than a year to avoid the entire country. “Information from the International Civil Aviation Organization and open source reports of surface-to-air missile firings,” the FAA said in a notice last year, describing the risk to civilian flights as “significant.”

Source: FlightRadar24

Via BNO,

The log details published by flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed the flight path of Malaysia Airlines flight MH4, an Airbus A380 which departed Kuala Lumpur on early Sunday. The log showed the aircraft flying over Syria, which is in the midst of a raging civil war, from about 1:20 p.m. local time, flying close to the city of Homs.

Reports about Flight MH4 flying over Syria garnered the responses of thousands of people on the social networking website Twitter, where the vast majority described the airline’s route as irresponsible. It appeared Flight MH4 was routed over Syria after airspace over eastern Ukraine was closed following the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 last week.

No airspace restrictions are in place over much of Syria, but the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other organizations have warned airlines for more than a year to avoid the entire country. “Information from the International Civil Aviation Organization and open source reports of surface-to-air missile firings,” the FAA said in a notice last year, describing the risk to civilian flights as “significant.”

“There are some local flights going over to Iraq and Lebanon and Jordan, but they are not big airlines or transcontinental flights,” said Flightradar24 co-founder Mikael Robertsson.

“So Malaysia Airlines was the first flight I’ve seen going over there for like a year… I know that Iraqi Airways and Syria Air are flying over Syria sometimes. No big airlines.”