Indian passenger carriers to shun Ukrainian airspace

New Delhi, July 18 (IANS) The civil aviation ministry Friday said that Air India and Jet Airways will change the route of their flights to avoid the conflict zone of Ukraine.

Both the Indian carriers, which have daily fights to Europe and the US, will now take longer routes to their destinations.

The decision follows the reported shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jetlliner on flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur Thursday in the conflict zone of Ukraine, killing all 298 on board.

The ministry added that there was no Air India flight near the ill-fated Malaysian plane at the time of the incident.

"As per information received so far, there was no Indian aboard the ill-fated plane," the ministry said.

The crash happened on the day national carrier Air India started its flight services to Moscow.

According to Malaysia Airlines, of the 298 people on board, the nationalities of 41 passengers are yet to be established.