SIA plane ‘within minutes’ of MH17 flight
A Singapore Airlines plane was about 90km or some 10 minutes away, when a Malaysia Airlines jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine last month.
Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, speaking in the Singapore Parliament, said there were no flight restrictions above 32,000ft over the particular airspace at the time, the Straits Times reported.
MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was brought down while flying over eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian rebels are fighting government forces.
"No national authorities, no regional aviation bodies, nor ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) has provided any advisories to avoid that part of the Ukrainian airspace," the minister said.
Meanwhile, British Airways will continue to fly over Iraq despite concerns that Islamic militants could use a missile to bring down a passenger plane.
Willie Walsh, CEO of BA parent company IAG, said flying over the country is "safe".
He told the Financial Times: "We fly over Iraq because we consider it safe. If we thought Iraq was unsafe we would not fly over Iraq."
Last week, Emirates announced it would no longer fly its aircraft over Iraq. Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic and Air France have also suspended flights over the country and Qantas, after second thoughts, said it had ‘temporarily rerouted its flights within the Middle East to avoid Iraqi airspace’.
Ian Jarrett
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