Indian civil authorities have ordered rerouting of Europe and US-bound flights to avoid Ukrainian airspace where a missile brought down a Malaysian Airlines flight on 17th July.
Besides confirming fresh instructions about avoiding eastern Ukraine, the Ministry denied reports from airline tracking website Flightradar24 that showed other commercial aircraft including an Air India flight was 24 kms away when the Malaysian airline crashed over Ukrainian airspace.
Indian civil authorities had issued instructions shortly after Eurocontrol, the European flight safety body closed the airspace in Eastern Ukraine to all airline flights.
Air India and Jet Airways, the two Indian airlines flying to Europe and the US, have also been asked to conform to the cruising altitude of 30,000 feet when flying between destinations. Instructions by Indian authorities are an attempt to be doubly safe because European authorities are already rejecting flight plans including the area where the airliner was shot down. Civil aviation sources said Indian airlines were emulating their European and other counterparts in effecting a wide detour around east Ukrainian airspace.