MALAYSIA AIRLINES DIVERT FLIGHT OVER SYRIA TO AVOID UKRAINE

 
Malaysia Airlines re-routed a Kuala Lumpur-to-London flight over Syrian airspace on Sunday after its usual route over Ukraine was closed, flight tracking data showed on Monday. 
Flightradar24 posted a flight map on its Twitter account on Monday showing the change in the flight's route. 

Flight tracking data showed this flight had previously crossed over eastern Ukraine. 

Malaysia Airlines' Flight MH17 was shot down last Thursday by a ground-to-air missile in eastern Ukraine.

Hundreds of flights routinely crossed over Ukraine before Thursday's incident, and it is not unusual for international airlines to overfly war zones such as Syria or Afghanistan.

The US Federal Aviation Administration, whose regulations are among the world's strictest, "strongly discourages" US operators from flying to, from or over Syria, according to a May 2013 notice on its website.

A statement from Malaysia Airlines acknowledged that it was flying over Syrian airspace. 

Source: Agency