*BRUSSELS*: Pan-European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol on Tuesdaywarned airlines to exercise caution in the eastern Mediterranean due to thepossible launch of air strikes into Syria in next 72 hours.
Eurocontrol said that air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles could be usedwithin that period and there was a possibility of intermittent disruptionof radio navigation equipment.
US President Donald Trump and Western allies are discussing possiblemilitary action to punish Syria’s President Bashar Assad for a suspectedpoison gas attack on Saturday on a rebel-held town that long had held outagainst government forces.
Trump on Tuesday canceled a planned trip to Latin America later this weekto focus instead on responding to the Syria incident, the White House said.Trump had on Monday warned of a quick, forceful response onceresponsibility for the Syria attack was established.
The Eurocontrol warning on its website did not specify the origin of anypotential missile threat.
“Due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria with air-to-groundand/or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours, and the possibility ofintermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment, due considerationneeds to be taken when planning flight operations in the EasternMediterranean/Nicosia FIR area,” it said, referring to the designatedairspace.
Aviation regulators in countries including the United States, UnitedKingdom, France and Germany have previously issued warnings againstairlines entering Syrian airspace leading most carriers to avoid the area.
The only commercial flights above Syria as of 1:15 am GMT on Wednesday werebeing flown by Syrian Air and Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines, according toflight tracking website FlightRadar24.
The Eurocontrol statement included a broader area outside the airspacecontrolled by Damascus.
The Nicosia flight information region named in the Eurocontrol statement onTuesday covers the island of Cyprus and surrounding waters, according to amap on the agency’s website. The same map did not designate any specificterritory as being the “Eastern Mediterranean” region.
There has been heightened awareness by regulators and airlines of the risksthat conflict zones pose to commercial jets since Malaysia Airlines flightMH17 was downed by a surface-to-air missile over Ukraine in 2014, killingall 298 people on board.
Last year, North Korea tested missiles without warning, leading someairlines to re-route flights to avoid portions of the Sea of Japan.
Eurocontrol’s warning cited a document from the European Aviation SafetyAgency, Europe’s safety regulator, a copy of which was not immediatelyavailable.