At first Lufthansa was still confident. After suspending the flight the day before, the German airline let an Airbus A330 take off for Tehran again on Thursday afternoon (9 July). They were using a «separate corridor», which they considered to be safe, the airline explained. It planned to operate the route daily again.
But flight LH600, which had taken off from Frankfurt with a delay of about four hours, did not get very far. After about one and a half hours into the flight, the Lufthansa plane turned back over the city of Bucharest. This was a precautionary measure, the airline stated. As a reason Lufthansa gave a «changed assessment of the security situation for the airspace around Tehran airport».
Unclear prospects
Earlier it had become clear that there is a high probability that Ukraine International's Boeing 737, which crashed near Tehran, was shot down by a missile. The Frankfurt - Tehran flight on Friday has also been cancelled. According to the spokesperson, it is not yet clear when the route will be served again. The situation is being examined continuously and decisions are being made day by day, Lufthansa states.
Flight OS871 of Austrian Airlines also turned around on the way to Tehran. The Airbus A320 turned back over Sofia. Friday's flight has also been cancelled.
