British airline Virgin Atlantic has been fined $1.05 million by the US Transportation Department for flying in “restricted airspace” over Iraq a number of times, Reuters reported.
The department has jurisdiction since the flights carried the Delta Airlines code, the report said.
US airlines are prohibited from flying through Iraqi airspace without approval by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Delta partner Virgin Atlantic fined
The department said that the investigation found “a significant number” of Virgin Atlantic flights that breached the ban between September 2020 and September 2021.
The airline was also ordered to stop future breaches.
“As soon as we were made aware of this compliance issue by the DOT, our codeshare flight routings were immediately corrected,” the airline said on Tuesday.
The airline must pay $525,000 in three installments. “The remaining $525,000 is payable only if Virgin Atlantic violates the order’s cease and desist or payment provisions,” Reuters said.
The US transportation department had also notified the airline of the September 2021 offence that saw aircrafts flying over Iraq between London and India.
According to Reuters, Virgin Atlantic told the department that upon notification by the US government, “it immediately rerouted flights to avoid the airspace in question and informed its board and senior leadership of the issue.”
Virgin Atlantic also added that the airline has invested in Sentinel by Osprey, an automated tool that “dynamically alerts airlines at the flight planning stage or operational stage, of any regulatory restrictions impacting their, or their codeshare partners’ flights”.
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