Ukraine – Flights Diverted

European and US aviation authorities have banned overflights of the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine following reports that Malaysia Airlines 17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over an area where commercial airliners had been safely flying since the start of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine in April. The airspace in is on a primary flight route between Europe and South and Southeast Asia; most flights that would normally fly over eastern Ukraine are diverting to a more southerly route over the Black Sea. North-south flights between western Russia and Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean destinations are also diverting around Ukrainian airspace. Associated arrival delays should be comparatively minor for most international flights. Flights between Kyiv and cities in the Caspian region and Central Asia are more likely to be affected because planes will have to fly a considerable distance to divert around the region where the suspected shootdown occurred. There have been no other reports of flight disruptions at international airports serving Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Dnipropetrovsk.