Originally Posted by
B747-437B
You are flat out wrong about this. There is no practical way to transition directly between Omani and Somali airspace other than via UB400/UB403/UB404/R401 airways, all of which run through Yemeni airspace. The only alternative is to go into Mumbai FIR and then cut back to Mogadishu FIR, which is a detour of over 500nm.
At this very moment, there are scheduled flights from Emirates, FlyDubai, Etihad, Kenya Airways, Ethiopian and OmanAir flying in Yemeni airspace.
The NOTAM calls for the following:
FDC 5/5575 (A0019/15) – ZZZ - SECURITY - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FLIGHT
PROHIBITION FOR THE SANAA FLIGHT INFORMATION REGION (OYSC FIR)
ALL FLIGHT OPERATIONS IN THE SANAA FLIGHT INFORMATION REGION (OYSC FIR), EXCLUDING
THAT AIRSPACE EAST AND SOUTHEAST OF A LINE DRAWN DIRECT FROM KAPET (163322N
0530614E) TO NODMA (152603N 0533359E), THEN DIRECT FROM NODMA TO PAKER (115500N
0463500E), BY THE PERSONS DESCRIBED IN PARAGRAPH A BELOW ARE PROHIBITED UNTIL
FURTHER ADVISED DUE TO THE POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS SITUATION CREATED BY THE RISKS
TO U.S. CIVIL AVIATION FROM ONGOING MILITARY OPERATIONS, POLITICAL INSTABILITY,
VIOLENCE FROM COMPETING ARMED GROUPS, AND THE CONTINUING TERRORISM THREAT
FROM EXTREMIST ELEMENTS.
I'm no airman nor do I carry a GPS device when I travel. However, having looked up each of the waypoints listed above in the NOTAM excerpt, I can tell you that today the flights are avoiding Yemeni Airspace and following a path that is consistent with the restrictions and exceptions as illustrated by today's ET601 from ADD to DXB.
http://www.flightradar24.com/data/ai...t-arf/#762f0ee
The listed waypoints are plotted in the maps below:
http://opennav.com/waypoint/MU/KAPET
http://opennav.com/waypoint/YE/NODMA
http://opennav.com/waypoint/SO/PAKER
Previously, while there is lacking coverage on flightradar24, flights to DXB appeared to fly directly over Yemen and appear on radar in the southeastern region of Saudi Arabia (unfortunately historical data doesn't go as far back as pre-Yemen airspace closure.)
Flights to RUH, KWI, DMM all appeared to go due East over Djibouti then over Yemen before appearing within Saudi Arabian terriroty until the time of airspace closure. Now, flights to these are best illustrated by today's flight to DOH which sees the aircraft flying over Sudan circumventing Eritrea.
http://www.flightradar24.com/data/ai...t-aqp/#762f116
It is worth noting that during the early days of the Yemen airspace closure, flights to DXB and MCT also flew over Sudan, Jeddah, Riyadh before approaching over the Persian Gulf. Flights to Delhi even made technical stops at Jeddah (these were B738s and at times B752s.)