Iran Reopens Airspace After Closure Due to US Attack Threats

US Aviation Authority Imposes Airspace Restrictions Amid Tensions with Iran

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued notices prohibiting most flights from entering Iranian airspace between two specific time periods on Thursday. The restrictions, which applied to all commercial flights without prior approval from Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation (CAO), were in place from 1:45am to 4:00am local time and again from 4:44 am to 7am.

According to FlightRadar, an online flight tracking service, only a few aircraft were detected over Iranian airspace during this period. The airspace restrictions have been attributed to the ongoing tensions between the US and Iran following Tehran’s deadly crackdown on antigovernment protests in the country.

The FAA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Earlier in the day, the US and the United Kingdom withdrew military personnel from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar amid concerns that Iran would target US forces in the Middle East region if an attack were launched.

Iran’s airspace reopened at approximately 7am local time. The aviation safety organisation OpsGroup has warned of the potential risks associated with these restrictions, including “further security or military activity” and the risk of misidentification of civil traffic.

In recent years, Iran’s air defences have been involved in incidents involving commercial flights, including the downing of a Ukraine International Airlines flight in 2020. A report by Iran’s CAO concluded that the operator of the missile battery had misidentified the Ukrainian aircraft as a hostile object.

Source: Al Jazeera