Following Iranian missile attacks on U.S. bases in Baghdad, the FAA last night issued a trio of emergency Notams—KCIZ A0001/20, A0002/20, and A0003/20—that prohibit U.S. civil operators from overflying the airspace in Iraq and Iran, as well as the overwater airspace above the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.
“These are significant airspace bans, particularly given that the entire overwater airspace in the region is now unavailable as well,” said flight-planning company OpsGroup. “The FAA’s previous Notam for the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman applied only to the portion that falls within Iran’s OIIX/Tehran FIR, but the new ban applies to the entire overwater airspace; this includes the entire overwater portion of the OKAC/Kuwait, OBBB/Bahrain, and OMAE/Emirates FIRs. Flights headed to/from the main airports in the region such as OMDB/Dubai will now need to route through Saudi Arabia’s airspace.”
In the Gulf of Oman, OpsGroup said the FAA Notam is unclear about where the boundary of the prohibited airspace lies because the Gulf of Oman merges with the Arabian Sea off the southern coast of Pakistan. However, the company has published a blog that includes a map of the prohibited airspace with its best-guess of the restrictions over the Gulf of Oman.