Airlines Reroute Flights in Anticipation of North Korean Missile Launch

Carriers have started to divert flight paths away from the expected-to-see falling debris resulting from a planned rocket launch announced by North Korea.

Governments around the world have condemned the announcement that North Korea will attempt to launch a slow satellite into space in the coming days. Western officials have decried the planned launch as a thinly veiled attempt by the rogue nation to develop their intercontinental missile capability. Airlines with routes that pass near the flightpath of the promised rocket launch have more pressing concerns. The Daily Mail reports that several airlines in the region have rerouted flights out of concern that falling debris in the area of the launch could disrupt air travel.

North Korea says that it will launch the rocket before the end of February. The government provided a projected rocket path that will follow a similar trajectory as a previous rocket launch that took place in December of 2012. U.S. officials are predicting a launch date as early as Feb. 8 and no later than Feb. 12 of this year.

Japan’s two largest airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines say they will reroute five flights in the region to avoid possible falling debris. The move will affect some flights headed to the Philippines and Indonesia. Meanwhile, the government of South Korea says just under 40 flights to and from the country will be diverted in anticipation of the rocket launch.

The international community widely views the planned launch as an intentional provocation by the isolated regime and it is believed that the diplomatic fallout from the activity could take years to resolve. The airlines, however, say that rerouting flights to give Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un’s rocket a wide berth will only add an average of ten minutes to most flights.

[Photo: A state media picture of Kim Jong Un enjoying an underwater ballistic missile test Photograph: KCNA / Reuters/Reuters]