The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday urged airlines to “be extremely careful” when flying near the border between Ukraine and Russia, citing potential aviation safety risks.
The US agency said in a statement to US transport companies on Saturday that the growing regional tension between Russia and Ukraine could lead to borderless skirmishes, increased military activity and / or conflict without notice. ‘
Since 2014, the FAA has banned US civil aviation operations in regions around the border between Ukraine and Russia. The notice also states that airlines must notify the FAA of planned flights in the region for at least 72 hours.
The FAA and other air regulators are concerned about the possibility that a civilian plane could be shot down during a conflict because it was misidentified.
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 detained by Russian rebels during fighting with Ukrainian government troops, international investigators said. All 298 people on board died, two thirds of whom were Dutch.
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