US Fines Emirates $1.8 Million For Iraq Airspace Violations

There’s an interesting technicality that has caused the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) to fine Emirates Airline for using Iraq airspace at too low of an altitude.

Emirates fined for flying too low over Iraq

For several years now, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has prohibited airlines from operating flights in Iraq airspace at an altitude below 32,000 feet, over safety concerns. This restriction specifically applies to flights operated and/or marketed by US airlines. This means that it includes flights operated by foreign airlines that US airlines codeshare on.

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Emirates is now facing a fine over this. The DOT is fining Emirates $1.8 million for using Iraq airspace at an altitude of below 32,000 feet on a “significant number” of flights between December 2021 and August 2022.

Now, this FAA restriction wouldn’t ordinarily apply to Emirates, except for the fact that Emirates codeshares with US airlines. At the time, Emirates was codesharing with JetBlue on these flights (that codeshare has ended, as Emirates has ramped up its partnership with United).

Interestingly, it would appear that Emirates didn’t intend to violate these rules, at least on paper. The airline always filed flight plans to stay above 32,000 feet. The airline would only descend below that altitude when ordered to do so by air traffic control.

It’s not clear if Emirates pilots just weren’t aware that they shouldn’t accept instructions to go below 32,000 feet, or if that was just unavoidable. Regardless, no airline should be surprised by air traffic control asking them to change altitude.

Of the $1.8 million fine, $300K will be taken off if the airline doesn’t violate this rule in the next year, lowering the total amount to $1.5 million.

This isn’t the first time that Emirates has violated US policies in this way. Back in 2020, the DOT fined Emirates $400K for violating Iran airspace restrictions while codesharing with a US airline. The airline claimed that the oversight was continuing to codeshare with JetBlue, and the response was that Emirates immediately ceased its codeshare with JetBlue on relevant flights.

This gets at the complexity of codeshares

Airlines have all kinds of different ways that they cooperate, and I think restrictions like these really get at the complexities of these arrangements. With a codeshare, an airline places its “code” on the flight of another airline.

I mean, no one thinks they’re actually flying JetBlue from Dubai to the United States, even if the flight has a “B6” code, with a note about the flight being operated by Emirates. This fine wouldn’t have happened if a ticket was simply booked as part of an interline agreement, whereby two or more carriers are on a single ticket with their respective flight numbers.

In recent years, codesharing has become more complicated, given how these flights are treated for regulatory reasons. For example, we all know how US airlines can’t use Russian airspace right now (and that’s a reciprocal agreement). These restrictions similarly apply to codeshare flights.

For example, Qatar Airways is allowed to use Russian airspace, but not on routes where it codeshares with US airlines. So you’ll notice that Qatar Airways codeshares with American on flights to the US East Coast, while it doesn’t on flights to the US West Coast. That’s because Qatar Airways doesn’t use Russian airspace on East Coast flights, while it does on West Coast flights.

At some point the distinction becomes kind of silly, no? I get why things are this way, and how you have to draw the line somewhere. But practically speaking:

• I can go to American’s website and book an award flight on Qatar Airways from Doha to Los Angeles, and that’s allowed to use Russian airspace
• If I go to American’s website and book a revenue flight on Qatar Airways from Doha to New York that’s a codeshare, that’s not allowed to use Russian airspace

Bottom line

The United States has fined Emirates $1.8 million for using Iraq airspace at too low of an altitude while operating flights to the United States that were also a JetBlue codeshare. US airlines aren’t allowed to fly at an altitude of under 32,000 feet in Iraq, and that includes codeshare flights of US airlines operated by other airlines.

It appears Emirates didn’t intend to violate this rule, and all flight plans were filed to be at above 32,000 feet. However, due to air traffic control instructions, many flights did operate in airspace prohibited by the US.

What do you make of this Emirates airspace violation?