Lufthansa hasextended its suspension of flights to Iran, the German airline said on Friday,after the deadly crash of a Ukrainian airliner in a suspected accidentalmissile strike outside Tehran.
Lufthansa said it had grounded its daily Frankfurt-Tehran serviceuntil Jan. 20 "as a precautionary measure". But Lufthansa-ownedAustrian Airlines on Friday resumed flights from Vienna to Erbil, Iraq,while Lufthansa has scheduled a Frankfurt-Erbil flight on Jan. 14, the airlinegroup said.
All 176 passengersand crew aboard the Ukraine International Airlines plane were killed when itcrashed soon after take-off from Tehran early on Wednesday. The United Statesand Canada have said the plane was brought down by Iranian missiles, probablyby mistake, a claim Iran denies.
The Boeing 737 camedown hours after Iran had fired missiles at two U.S. military bases inneighbouring Iraq, while Iran was on high alert.
Lufthansa has beenthe only major European carrier flying to Iran since 2018, when Air Francepulled out. The German carrier's LH600 flight was cancelled on Wednesday buttook off for the Iranian capital on Thursday before turning back halfway toreturn to Frankfurt.
The decisionreflected a "changed assessment of the security situation for the airspacearound Tehran airport", a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Besides its Tehranservice, Lufthansa flies twice weekly to Erbil, while Austrian operates a dailyflight the northern Iraqi city that was also cancelled on Thursday.
