Virgin Atlantic has joined Emirates and some other airlines in deciding not to fly over Iraq due to safety concerns.
The UK carrier’s move follows fears that insurgents could strike again at passenger planes following the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine with the loss of 298 lives.
However some airlines, including British Airways, are continuing to use Iraq airspace, emphasising the need for clarity about just which routes are safe to fly.
Air Malta was unaffected as it does not have any flight paths over the country, although last month it rerouted services to Moscow to avoid Ukrainian airspace.
A step towards sorting the situation out was taken in Montreal earlier this week at a global aviation chiefs’ meeting hosted by UN body the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
World aviation bosses decided to set up a senior-level task force composed of state and industry experts.
This task force will try to ensure that information and intelligence that could affect the safety of airline passengers and crews is effectively collected and disseminated.
The aviation industry has called for the ICAO to also look at the need to incorporate into international law, through appropriate UN frameworks, measures to govern the design, manufacture and deployment of modern anti-aircraft weaponry.
The ICAO said it was also convening a high-level safety conference with all of its 191 member states in February 2015.
The organisation’s secretary general Raymond Benjamin said all the aviation bodies “strongly condemned the use of weapons against the civilian aircraft”.
He described the downing of MH17, with the loss of 298 lives, as “unacceptable” and he sent the aviation world’s “deepest condolences” to the families of the victims.
International Air Transport Association director general and chief executive Tony Tyler said: “The tragic shooting down of MH17 was an attack on the whole air transport industry.
“The world’s airlines are angry. Civil aircraft are instruments of peace. They should not be the target of weapons of war.
“We are asking ICAO to address two critical tasks. The first, and most urgent, is to ensure that governments provide airlines with better information with which to make risk assessments of the various threats they may face.
“The second is equally important but comes with a longer timeframe. We will find ways through international law that will oblige governments better to control weapons which have the capability to pose a danger to civil aviation. Achieving these will make our safe industry even safer.”
He went on: “We were told that flights traversing Ukraine’s territory at above 32,000 feet would not be in harm’s way. We now know how wrong that guidance was. It is essential that airlines receive clear guidance regarding threats to their passengers, crew and aircraft.”