Airlines avoid Afghan airspace as Kabul airport closes to commercial flights
CNN
Major international airlines are scrambling to reroute flights away from Afghan airspace as the country falls to the Taliban, disrupting passenger services to India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.
On Monday, United Airlines (UAL), Virgin Atlantic, Emirates and Flydubai all announced changes to flights to or over Afghanistan, saying that they would monitor the situation as chaotic scenes unfolded at the main airport in Kabul, the nation's capital. "Due to the dynamic nature of the situation, we have begun routing affected flights around Afghanistan airspace," a United Airlines spokesperson said in a statement early Monday morning local time, adding that it would continue to work closely with authorities to "determine how we continue service to markets impacted."
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