Aviation warning over Russian missiles

The warning was made by The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) which warned in a safety briefing: “Before reaching Syria, such missiles are necessarily crossing the airspace above Caspian Sea, Iran and Iraq, below flight routes which are used by commercial transport airplanes.”

Although the Russian navy is regularly firing missiles at various sites in the country, they tend to travel at below 600ft, well below the heights of commercial aircraft.

The United Nations air safety agency, ICAO, is also believed to have sent formal requests to Russia, Turkey and Iran concerning the any dangers posed to civil aviation.

Air France has responded to the warnings by changing some of its routes with a spokesperson telling The Evening Standard on Monday that temporary special rules are in place for flying over Iran and the Caspian Sea

However, British Airways, having declined to say on Friday whether or not it was altering routes in the region, added on Monday that the advice did not contain any more information than what is already in place for the region.

A spokesperson said the airline would “never fly in airspace unless we were satisfied that it was safe to do so”.

He added: "Our security teams are aware of that EASA bulletin and continue to liaise with the relevant parts of the UK Government."

The latest concerns come as Dutch safety investigators prepare to publish an investigation into the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines MH17 over Ukraine last year.

A total of 283 people died in the incident, which has been blamed on Russian separatists, although the report is not expected to officially apportion blame.