Regional countries' airlines fly over Iran’s sky

“Iranian airspace is important for all carriers in this region,” said Adil al-Ghaith, Emirates’ senior vice president, commercial operations, Gulf, Middle East and Iran told Reuters.  

Dubai-based Emirates and sister carrier flydubai together serve 10 cities in Iran and Iraq, and have continued to use the airspace of both countries for other flights.

Kuwait Airways and Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways have continued using Iranian and Iraqi airspace.

“We will continue to fly to Iran because Iran is an important country to us and it is our neighbor and we want to serve the people of Iran,” Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar al-Baker said on the sidelines of a Kuwait aviation conference.

Qatar has forged closer economic ties with Iran since 2017 when neighboring Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Arab states cut relations with Doha in a diplomatic row.

The Qatari state carrier turned to Iranian airspace to keep its network that flies through its Doha hub operating.

Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752, bound for Kyiv, was shot down in error after taking off from Tehran on Jan. 8, killing all 176 people aboard.  

MNA/PR