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Lufthansa, Austrian airlines cancel all Iran flights

Lufthansa is was cancelling all flights to and from Tehran until January 20, following indications that Iran mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane earlier this week.

Published: 11 January 2020 15:01 CET

Lufthansa, Austrian airlines cancel all Iran flights

Image: Picture Alliance

The German group, which also owns Austrian Airlines, said on Friday the flight ban was “due to the unclear security situation for the airspace around Tehran airport”.

All 176 people on board died when the Ukrainian International Airlines plane went down near Tehran on Wednesday, shortly after Iran launched missiles at US forces in Iraq over the killing of a top Iranian general.

American, British and Canadian officials say intelligence sources indicate Iran shot down the plane, perhaps unintentionally, but this has been denied by Tehran.

Several airlines had already announced they would avoid Iranian and Iraqi airspace as tensions in the region soared.

A Lufthansa flight between Frankfurt and Tehran on Thursday turned back an hour after takeoff because of security concerns.

Austrian Airlines meanwhile said late Thursday that its flight to Tehran that day was ordered to return to Vienna after a stopover in Sofia.

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Lufthansa delays flight from Minsk over 'security warning'

Lufthansa flights await takeoff at Munich Airport. Photo: Christof Stache/AFP

The flight eventually took off for Frankfurt after renewed checks, with all passengers on board.

“The flight took off 10 minutes ago,” an airline spokesman told AFP at about 13.30pm GMT, one day after a forced landing over Belarus. “All passengers were on board as planned.”

The airline announced the delay on Monday morning, saying local Belarusian authorities had wanted to carry out a security check.

“We are following the directions of the local authorities who are searching the plane again before departure and carrying out security checks again on
passengers,” an airline spokesman said.

Lufthansa said all luggage and freight had been removed from the aircraft, in which there were 51 people including five crew members.

“We regret the inconvenience for the passengers but the security of our passengers, crew and the plane take top priority at Lufthansa,” the spokesman said.

Soon after Lufthansa released its statement, Minsk airport said on its Telegram channel that “all necessary measures” to check the plane and its
passengers had been completed.

“The information about a terror attack, that was received on the airport’s email, wasn’t substantiated,” it said. “The plane is being readied for take-off, luggage is being loaded, boarding has been announced for Lufthansa flight LH1487 Minsk-Frankfurt.”

The security alert came one day after a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying dissident journalist Roman Protasevich was diverted while in
Belarusian airspace over a supposed bomb threat.

Accompanied by a Belarusian fighter jet on the orders of strongman Alexander Lukashenko, the plane landed in Minsk where Protasevich, a
26-year-old who had been living in Lithuania, was arrested along with his Russian girlfriend.

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