North Korean airspace could be declared no-fly zone

North Korean airspace could be declared a no-fly zone in response to the country’s missile tests, the aviation industry’s global trade body says, after the latest launch came within sight of a passenger plane. Excluding aircraft from the area is one option open to aviation safety regulators as they ponder how to deal with the arbitrary firing of missiles that has encroached on busy commercial air routes between Asia and North America.<br/>Pilots on a plane operated by Cathay Pacific saw from a distance what were believed to be the remnants of a North Korean rocket fired last Wednesday. The airline disclosed the sighting on Monday in an internal note to staff. While no international flights currently use North Korean airspace, the area around it is full of activity. Any sanctions by the UN safety regulator, the IICAO, would likely bring into sharper focus the safety of aircraft operating nearby as well as commercial flights in and out of North Korea. “The ICAO could declare a no-fly zone,” Alexandre de Juniac, DG of IATA, said at its Geneva headquarters on Tuesday. “We are working with the ICAO on how we can protect these zones [for] flying. “The ICAO is trying to implement and ask North Korea to apply safety rules. If you look at the North Korean airspace, there are not too many aircraft overflying.”<br/>