5 ms·

My understanding is that they currently deliberately avoid Iraq (my dc-dubai flight in sept did), in favor of flying over Iran for many western flights. Airline

My understanding is that they currently deliberately avoid Iraq (my dc-dubai flight in sept did), in favor of flying over Iran for many western flights. Airlines do this often (look up tel aviv to mumbai on flightaware for a fun flight path... or any flights from azeribaijan enclave to capital, or dubai-yerevan, these routes are loaded with geopolitics)

owenversteeg 10y ago
Yep - even Eastern carriers are doing that now. My comment downthread has more on my personal experience [0]. El Al 73, 50% longer than it "should" be because of a detour around Saudi Arabia: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ELY73/history/20161230/0315Z/LLBG/VABB https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ELY73/history/20161230/0... Azerbaijan Airlines J2261 doesn't seem to be that much longer, even though it has to avoid the Karabakh region. (At first I thought you were referencing the Ստեփանակերտի Օդանավակայան/Stepanakert Airport, which interestingly has no IATA code.) Dubai to Yerevan doesn't seem that geopolitically complicated though - seems to fly just over Iran mostly. I guess the end of the flight could get tricky though, with Armenia saying that Azerbaijan would shoot down Armenian planes that go over Azerbaijan. The flight I found is FDB715, https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FDB715/history/20170103/0755Z/OMDB/UDYZ https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FDB715/history/20170103/... [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13331458 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13331458
- kylehotchkiss 10y ago
  I'm surprised you can fly into Stepanakert! If I had to go there, I'd take a car Thanks for the data here, these are really interesting concepts because of how abstracted they are. I would think many passengers don't realize these types of choices are made by airlines on a daily basis.
  - owenversteeg 10y ago
    Hah, you actually can't. The airport is closed, since the chance of any flight there being shot down is very high (although the director of the airport said there would be flights in a matter of months... in 2011) And you're very welcome! I love looking at these maps. I fly a bunch and it's only in the past three months or so that I've really been considering the strange routes that people fly.
JBlue42 10y ago
Flew over Iran on a Dubai - LAX flight many years ago. And kept going north, over Russia, over the Arctic, and down across Alaska. Was pretty amazing to watch out the window. Beautiful endless nothing.

owenversteeg 10y ago

Yep - even Eastern carriers are doing that now. My comment downthread has more on my personal experience [0]. El Al 73, 50% longer than it "should" be because of a detour around Saudi Arabia: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ELY73/history/20161230/0315Z/LLBG/VABB https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ELY73/history/20161230/0... Azerbaijan Airlines J2261 doesn't seem to be that much longer, even though it has to avoid the Karabakh region. (At first I thought you were referencing the Ստեփանակերտի Օդանավակայան/Stepanakert Airport, which interestingly has no IATA code.) Dubai to Yerevan doesn't seem that geopolitically complicated though - seems to fly just over Iran mostly. I guess the end of the flight could get tricky though, with Armenia saying that Azerbaijan would shoot down Armenian planes that go over Azerbaijan. The flight I found is FDB715, https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FDB715/history/20170103/0755Z/OMDB/UDYZ https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FDB715/history/20170103/... [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13331458 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13331458

kylehotchkiss 10y ago
I'm surprised you can fly into Stepanakert! If I had to go there, I'd take a car Thanks for the data here, these are really interesting concepts because of how abstracted they are. I would think many passengers don't realize these types of choices are made by airlines on a daily basis.
- owenversteeg 10y ago
  Hah, you actually can't. The airport is closed, since the chance of any flight there being shot down is very high (although the director of the airport said there would be flights in a matter of months... in 2011) And you're very welcome! I love looking at these maps. I fly a bunch and it's only in the past three months or so that I've really been considering the strange routes that people fly.

JBlue42 10y ago

Flew over Iran on a Dubai - LAX flight many years ago. And kept going north, over Russia, over the Arctic, and down across Alaska. Was pretty amazing to watch out the window. Beautiful endless nothing.