JAPAN: Airlines prepare to re-route flights ahead of the North Korean rocket launch to avoid no-fly zones where authorities say rocket boosters may fall

Record ID: 466222

  • Title: JAPAN: Airlines prepare to re-route flights ahead of the North Korean rocket launch to avoid no-fly zones where authorities say rocket boosters may fall
  • Date: 12th April 2012
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (APRIL 11, 2012) (REUTERS) HANEDA AIRPORT/PLANE TAKING OFF SIGN READING IN ENGLISH: "TOKYO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT" PLANE TAKING OFF PLANES TAXIING DOWN RUNWAY AS PLANE TAKES OFF PLANE TAKING OFF
  • Embargoed: 27th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan, Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA644GFBEG18BFCO8XCNFY2LIV4
  • Story Text: Japanese airlines prepared on Wednesday (April 11) to re-route flights ahead of North Korea's planned rocket launch, scheduled for sometime this week, in a bid to avoid possible falling debris from the rocket in no-fly zones near the Philippines.
    Japan Airlines (JAL) has re-routed four flights that were due to pass through the no-fly zone off the west coast of the Philippines, where the booster stages of North Korea's rocket may fall.
    "There's been an area designated as where the rocket boosters will fall. And the area near the Philippines is where we normally have flight routes passing through, but it has been shut down during the time that the rocket has been scheduled to launch," explained JAL's director of route planning and flight operations Norio Tomine.
    North Korea has announced that it will launch a rocket to put a weather satellite in orbit sometime between April 12 and 16. JAL said that if the launch date continues to remain uncertain, then the re-routing of flights could affect thousands.
    "If this does indeed continue from the 12th to the 16th (April) for five days then it will affect a grand total of around 4,000 customers," Tomine said.
    However, the diversion around the no-fly zone will only add 5-20 minutes to each flight, officials say, and as of now no Japanese airlines have cancelled flights due to the rocket launch.
    In addition to JAL, Japanese carrier All Nippon Airlines (ANA) has announced that it will also re-route five flights in order to avoid no-fly zones due to North Korea's rocket launch.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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