Turkey imposes restrictions on use of its airspace by Israel

[actarus]

Turkey has imposed restrictions on use of its airspace by Israeli cargo planes, an Israeli news report has said.

The report, which appeared on Israeli daily Haaretz, says Turkey has introduced restrictions on Israeli cargo planes carrying “dangerous materials.” Cargo flights of El Al and CAL will be affected and most of the cargo flights in and out of Israel will be subject to the new restrictions as any flight carrying batteries and even perfume, which are flammable and require special storage procedures are categorized as “dangerous materials,” according to Haaretz.

From now on, Turkey is requiring that it be notified about flights of this type at least 10 days in advance, so that they may review whether or not to approve them.

The new move causes substantial financial damage to Israeli airlines, as most Israeli flights, and all those flying to the Far East, regularly use Turkish airspace, and are now being forced to use longer flight routes that circumvent Turkey, the report said, adding that El Al and CAL have already contacted the Civil Aviation Administration of Israel, asking the authorities to respond to the Turkish move with similar restrictions on Turkish flights.

[andorra-airport]

"Turkish intelligence officials accuse Israel of aiding the Kurdish rebel group PKK (...) Israeli drone activity has been detected in the Hatay and Adana provinces in recent months, the unmanned aerial vehicles collected intelligence for the Kurdish rebels." (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 65,00.html)

Maybe that is the reason for this restriction?