Several other passenger planes used the same route as the Malaysia Airlines jetliner that crashed over eastern Ukraine, Malaysian Transport Minister said.
“In the hours before the incident, a number of other passenger aircraft from different carriers used the same route,” said Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai.
“There were no-last minute instructions given to the pilots of MH17 to change the route of the flight.” The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) approved the flight path of the plane, he said, and insisted that the route was safe and that countries with air space along the path had also approved the passage of planes.
“Fifteen out of 16 airlines in the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines fly this route over Ukraine,” he told a press briefing in Kuala Lumpur. “European airlines also use the same route, and traverse the same airspace.”
