Air France-KLM sanctioned by the US administration for flying into prohibited airspace over Iraq

Double sanction for the giant Air France-KLM. The American administration accuses the company of having flown over airspace prohibited by the FAA, the transport regulator, over Iraq, in the Baghdad region. The Ministry of Transport imposes 105.

000 dollars fine to Air France for more than 30 flights between April 2022 and November 2025, and 320,000 dollars to KLM for more than 100 flights between January 2022 and May 2025. This sanction from a third country on a foreign company operating outside the United States is made possible thanks to the principle of extraterritoriality of American law but also and above all because the flights concerned were operated under the identification code of Delta Air Lines, an American company.

Code sharing is a commercial agreement by which an airline places its identification code on a flight operated by another company, and sells tickets for that flight. “The FAA prohibits U.S. carriers from operating flights in airspace managed by foreign authorities when conflicts, militant activities or increased tensions pose a risk to the safety of civil aviation. Foreign airlines that operate flights under the code of a U.S. carrier are required to respect these prohibitions,” explains the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Trajectory deviations made at the request of air traffic control “Under the Trump administration, if you are flying using an American code, compliance with our safety rules is not optional,” declared the United States Secretary of Transportation. “We will not hesitate to hold accountable any airline that does not comply with current regulations. Passenger safety is the top priority; no exceptions will be tolerated.

“Both carriers have been ordered to cease these practices and ensure that no similar offenses occur again,” a statement read. “Both airlines take their regulatory obligations very seriously and remain committed to complying with all applicable aviation regulations. We have collaborated with the United States Department of Transportation throughout this process and have taken the necessary measures to strengthen, in the future, compliance with airspace restrictions,” comments Air France-KLM to BFM Business, which confirms having “reached an agreement with the United States Department of Transportation.”

According to our information, these flights over restricted or prohibited areas did take place but were the result of deviations in trajectories carried out at the request of air traffic control. Furthermore, the company no longer flies over Iraq at all today. This is not the first time that non-American companies have been sanctioned for similar reasons by the American administration.

In 2023, Virgin Atlantic was fined a million dollars, a year later Etihad Airways was fined $400,000.

Machine-translated from French