The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday urged airlines to exercise “extreme caution” when flying near the Ukrainian-Russian border, citing potential flight safety risks.
In a message to US airlines on Saturday, the US agency noted “escalating regional tensions between Russia and Ukraine, which could potentially result in unannounced cross-border skirmishes, increased military activity and / or conflict”.
Since 2014, the FAA has banned US civil aviation operations in regions around the Ukrainian-Russian border. The notice also stated that airlines must notify the FAA at least 72 hours in advance of scheduled flights in the region.
The FAA and other air regulators are concerned about the possibility of a civilian aircraft being shot down during a conflict because it has been falsely identified.
In 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian rebels fighting with Ukrainian government forces, international researchers said. All 298 people on board died, two-thirds of them were Dutch.
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