FLYING FEARS Airlines cautioned after Russian missile strikes

“Missiles reaching Syria cross over airspace above the Caspian Sea, Iran and Iraq, where airline routes are also operated”, indicates the European organisation based in Cologne.

The European agency sends out these kinds of safety bulletins on a regular basis when it has concerns about anything from anti-freeze to plane parts. Flight tracking websites appeared to show BA flights were still crossing the Caspian yesterday. A final report from Dutch investigators is set to be released Tuesday.

The danger of flying over war zones was highlighted previous year when Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, was downed in eastern Ukraine, killing 283 people.

The global Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations’ air-safety arm, on October. 9 warned of “the possible existence of serious risks to the safety of worldwide civil flights” flying in the wider airspace around Baghdad, Damascus and Tehran.

But any collision could have catastrophic consequences, and there have already been claims – denied by the Kremlin – that four of the Russian missiles have gone off course. and landed in Iran.

Russian Federation says its bombing campaign targets the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but critics have said most of its strikes have hit other armed groups fighting Bashar al-Assad’s government. Several were filmed flying in daylight at low altitude across Iraq.

Lufthansa has made no changes to flight paths across the region, and sees no need to do so now given the available information, said Thomas Jachnow, a spokesman for the German carrier.