The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) yesterday said it is prohibiting U.S. airlines to fly over eastern Ukraine.
The prohibition, issued as a a Notice to Airman (NOTAM), has been put in place until further notice.
The moves follows the apparent shoot down of a Malaysia Airlines flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. According to various news reports, pro-Russian separatists may be responsible for shooting down the plane.
“The restricted area includes the entire Simferopol and Dnepropetrovsk flight information regions (FIRs),” the agency said in a statement. “This action expands a prohibition of U.S. flight operations issued by the FAA in April, over the Crimean region of Ukraine and adjacent areas of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. No scheduled U.S. airlines are currently flying routes through this airspace.”
Concurrently, many U.S. Airlines said they would not route flights through the area.
“Out of an abundance of caution, Delta Air Lines is not routing flights through Ukrainian airspace and is monitoring the situation involving Malaysia Airlines Flight 17,” Delta Air Lines said in a statement. “The flight was not a codeshare with Delta, and Delta does not operate any service that flies over the region of Ukraine that was the subject of an FAA security advisory. The thoughts and prayers of the entire Delta family are with the passengers and crew, and their loved ones, involved in the Malaysia Airlines incident today.”