The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued an emergency order prohibiting US carriers from flying in the overwater area of Iranian-controlled airspace until further notice.
The order, issued in the early hours of 21 June, states that the prohibition is in place “due to heightened military activities and increased political tensions in the region”.
This, it adds, presents “an inadvertent risk to US civil aviation operations and potential for miscalculation or misidentification”.
On 19 June, an Iranian surface-to-air missile shot down a Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle (UAV) over Kuh Mubarak, a coastal area of Iran at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.
The FAA notes in its order that the UAV was operating “in the vicinity of civil air routes above the Gulf of Oman”.
The Iranian government later claimed responsibility for shooting down of the spy drone, which it said had violated Iranian airspace.
United Airlines cancelled its scheduled flight between Newark and Mumbai on 20 June, hours before the emergency order was issued.
Cirium schedules data shows United is the only US carrier to fly between the United States and India.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
