Qatar Airways now allegedly overflying Syrian airspace

[MEL_Traveller]

Reported at onemileatatime: Qatar Airways Now Flying Through Syrian Airspace - One Mile at a Time : Qatar Airways has made the decision to overfly Syria. Tis is contrary to just about al other carriers, although the reasoning for this is not necessarily certain - could either be due to sanctions or safety.

 

[Austman]

A google search found me this:

Back on the map: Damascus opens its airspace to Qatar Airways

First airline returns to Syrian skies after years of extended detours to circumvent war zone

www.timesofisrael.com

 

[asterix]

Here is our flight path from Manchester to Doha which landed 30 minutes or so ago. The captain mentioned we'd be flying over Iraq, can't tell if we flew over any bits of Syria. From what I can tell on Google Maps, we didn't.

 

[RooFlyer]

QR are indeed flying over Syria: The view from my "office"

 

[Scr77]

Hmm....not sure how I feel about this.

 

[RooFlyer]

I can certainly attest to QR flying over Syria ... this was my flight track on QR228 last week:



We were delayed by 20 mins due to 'Cyprus air traffic control' which seemed very odd ... we did briefly transit Cyprus airspace but I can't imagine its that crowded.

I wasn't the only one in the J cabin who was watching the flight display closely!

During the past week, the route varied between the above one, and the one which very carefully skirts both Syria and Iraqi air space, below. I'd love to know the reason why some days its oK to transit Syria and Iraq and others they go around!!