Tony Abbott has called on airlines to tell passengers about flight routes over war zones, but resisted union demands for a “prescriptive” approach to force Qantas to bypass Iraq.



The Transport Workers Union called on the government to compel all Australian-registered airlines and flights entering or leaving Australia to reroute flight paths away from conflict zones after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine.

Qantas said it was one of many commercial airlines that flew over parts of Iraq en route to Europe, and there was “no information to suggest that there is a risk to commercial aircraft passing over Iraq at the altitudes we fly”.

Abbott indicated the government was unlikely to take the action suggested by the TWU and instead called on airlines to be transparent.

“I am instinctively reluctant to be prescriptive here, but I must say if I was a passenger flying between Australia and Europe I would be curious about where I was flying,” he told Fairfax Radio on Thursday.

“I can remember years and years ago on my first trip to Europe as a government minister looking out and thinking ‘That would be Iran down there’ and wondering about what may or may not have been happening. So look, I think people are perfectly entitled to ask and yes, they should be told.”

The TWU national secretary, Tony Sheldon, issued his call for tougher government action on Wednesday.

Australian passengers were not consulted on flight paths when they boarded their planes, Sheldon said, and Qantas’s partner airline Emirates had decided to reroute flights away from northern Iraq because of the risk of militant attack.

Qantas flies through Iraq at an average level of between 38,000 and 41,000 feet.

Its chief pilot, Dick Tobiano, said any suggestion Qantas would compromise the safety of its passengers and crew because of costs was wrong.

“We would never fly over an area if we thought it was unsafe. That’s why we no longer fly over Syria or the Ukraine,” he said.

“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and make any changes needed to ensure the safety of our passengers.”

The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said the travelling public was shocked at what had happened to MH17 in eastern Ukraine and he “could not imagine a set of circumstances where Qantas would put people’s safety in jeopardy”.