Airlines Bear 'Ultimate' Responsibility for Choosing Safe Air Routes - ICAO

The communications chief at the International Civil Aviation Organization said that airline operators have the ultimate responsibility to decide where they are able to operate safely.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — Airline operators bear the greatest responsibility for choosing their air routes, communications chief at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) told Sputnik on Friday.

"Airspace users [airline operators] have the ultimate responsibility to decide where they are able to operate safely," Anthony Philbin told the news agency.

The communications chief noted that countries still "continue to have the responsibility to ensure the safety of civil aviation operations in their sovereign and delegated airspace."

Prior to the MH17 crash in Eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, the country's government closed the local airspace with an exception for routes over the altitude of 9,753 meters (32,000 feet).

The Malaysia Airlines, crashed plane's operator, followed the instruction of the Ukrainian authorities, turning a blind eye, however, to the fact that the route was laid over a combat zone.

Earlier on Friday, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) told Sputnik that the decision to leave the airspace open over eastern Ukraine was solely of Kiev.

All 298 people on board of the fatal flight lost their lives. Kiev and local independence supporters have been trading the blame for the tragedy.