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Singapore

Singapore Airlines, Scoot resume flights over Iranian airspace

Singapore Airlines, Scoot resume flights over Iranian airspace

A Singapore Airlines plane is parked beside Scoot aircraft on the tarmac at Singapore's Changi Airport on Mar 15, 2021. (File photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)

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SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Scoot have resumed flights over Iranian airspace, more than two months after announcing that they would be avoiding the area amid tensions in the Middle East. 

In response to CNA queries, an SIA spokesperson said on Monday (Jul 8) that both airlines have started flying over Iranian air space again since Jun 27, 2024. 

The airlines had on Apr 13 suspended flights over Iranian air space as a "precautionary measure", using alternative flight paths instead. 

"The SIA Group regularly reviews and determines the flight paths taken by its aircraft based on multiple factors," said an SIA spokesperson. 

These include "weather conditions, safety and security considerations, advisories from international and regional bodies, insights from independent external security consultants, and regulatory restrictions".

"The SIA Group’s top priority is the safety of our customers and staff," said the spokesperson.

Scoot is the low-cost subsidiary of SIA.

SIA's earlier decision to bypass Iran came after Iran vowed retaliation over a presumed Israeli air strike on Apr 1. 

The strike levelled an Iranian diplomatic building in Syria and killed seven members of the elite Revolutionary Guards, including two generals. 

That weekend, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel in its first direct attack on Israeli territory. 

SIA said on Apr 14 that it would skip Iranian air space and use alternative flight paths, adding that it was closely monitoring the situation in the Middle East. 

Other airlines such as Qantas, Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) also stopped using Iranian airspace at the time. 

However, using alternative routes also meant longer flights between Singapore and most of its destinations in Europe. 

SIA flights between Singapore and Europe would have typically flown over Iran, according to data from flight tracking service Flightradar24. 

To avoid the air space, flights took a circuitous northerly route that passes over Central Asia, the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus, leading to longer flight times. 

On Apr 16, an SIA spokesperson said all SIA flights operating from Singapore to Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Istanbul, London, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris, Rome and Zurich as well as New York's John F Kennedy (JFK) and Newark airports were affected by the rerouting.

For example, a flight from Singapore to London's Heathrow Airport on Apr 15 clocked a flight time of 14 hours and three minutes. The average flight time for the service is 13 hours and 39 minutes, according to Flightradar24.

A check on Flightradar24 on Monday evening showed that other airlines were also using Iranian airspace, including SWISS, Qatar Airways and Emirates.

Source: CNA/at

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