United Airlines suspends Newark-Mumbai flights as Iran shot US drone

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Washington [US]: The United Airlines has suspended its flights between New Jersey’s Newark Airport and Mumbai following a safety review, a day after Iran shot down a US military drone flying over the Gulf of Oman. “Given current events in Iran, United has conducted a thorough safety and security review of our Indian service through Iranian airspace and decided to suspend our service between New York/Newark and India (Mumbai) beginning this evening,” read the company’s statement.

Flight UA48 from Newark to Mumbai has been cancelled, while the customers flying onboard flight UA9239 from Mumbai to Newark will be rebooked on the alternate flights to the US, the airlines said.

“Customers travelling on these flights will experience extended flight times due to a change in our normal flight path,” the statement read.

“We are contacting our customers to provide this update and assist those who may need rebooking options. We continue to explore all our options and remain in close contact with relevant government authorities in order to provide our customers with the most efficient travel experience under these circumstances,” it added. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Thursday announced that it had shot down an “intruding American spy drone”, RQ-4 Global Hawk, after it violated Iranian airspace over the southern coastal province of Hormozgan. Washington has labelled the move an “unprovoked attack”, claiming that the drone was flying over international waters when attacked.

To back its claim, the country released an image of the flight path, showing that the drone was flying over the international waters, in response to which Tehran released a video showing that the drone had entered the Iranian airspace. Both the countries provided similar proof until the final moments before the unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down.