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The German company Lufthansa has suspended its flights over Iran and Iraq. PASCAL PAVANI / AFP

Following the Iranian attacks on two American bases on the night of Wednesday to Wednesday, January 8, several airlines have decided to suspend their flights over Iraq and Iran.

The first decision was made by the American regulator. " The Federal Aviation Agency has issued messages to airmen (NOTAMS) detailing flight restrictions that prohibit operators of American civil aircraft from operating in airspace over Iraq, from Iran, and the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, "the FAA said in a statement.

With flights canceled, large detours from threatened areas, most companies are applying the precautionary principle after the Iranian strikes against military bases in Iraq, Wednesday January 8.

The French group Air France has suspended its flights over Iranian and Iraqi airspace. The Dutch company KLM, a member of the same group, followed suit.

The German company Lufthansa first canceled its daily flight to Tehran, before in turn suspending its flights over Iran and Iraq. A measure also applied by its subsidiary Swiss. Lufthansa has however announced that it will resume flights to the Iranian capital on Thursday

The Polish company LOT has announced that it will use new routes to India, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Other companies are joining the movement. This is particularly the case for Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Malaysia Airlines, Air Canada and the Australian company Qantas. But their flights may be longer.

Among the Asian companies, Singapore Airlines deviates its flights which must pass over Iran, Malaysia Airlines reroutes its flights between London, Jeddah and Medina to also avoid the Iranian air space. Vietnam Airlines, for its part announced that its flights to and from Europe would avoid " areas of potential instability " in the Middle East. Air India has also taken steps to avoid Iran.

Air Canada has simply announced that it has changed its flight plans "to ensure the safety of its flights within and over the Middle East".

The Australian company Qantas announced that the flight between Perth and London will fly over Asia rather than the Middle East, which implies a delay of forty minutes.

The largest airline in the United Arab Emirates, Emirates, has canceled flights to Baghdad. Many airlines in the region had already suspended flights to Iraq for several days after the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani , such as Bahrain Airways or Kuwait Airways.

With AFP.