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STORY: The Middle East is a key air corridor for planes heading to India, South-East Asia and Australia.But with recent instability, the safety debate about flying over the region is playing out.Concerns are being raised in Europe particularly, because pilots there are protected by unions, unlike other parts of the world.Reuters spoke to four pilots, three cabin crew members, three flight security experts and two airline executives about growing safety concerns in the European air industry.Reuters also reviewed nine unpublished letters from unions representing pilots and crews.They expressed worries about air safety over Middle Eastern countries.The letters were sent to multiple airlines, the European Commission and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in the summer.In late September, an experienced pilot at Wizz Air felt anxious after learning his plane would fly over Iraq at night amid mounting tensions between nearby Iran and Israel.He decided to query the decision since just a week earlier the airline had deemed the route unsafe. According to the pilot, Wizz Air's flight operations team told him the airway was now considered secure and he had to fly it.Days later, Iraq closed its airspace when Iran fired missiles on October 1st at Israel. In response to Reuters' queries, Wizz Air said safety is its top priority and it had carried out detailed risk assessments before resuming flights over Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries.In other letters, staff called on airlines to be more transparent about their decisions on routes.The ongoing tensions between Israel and Iran and the abrupt ousting of President Bashar al-Assad by Syrian rebels at the weekend have raised concerns of further insecurity in the region.Some European airlines including Lufthansa and KLM allow crew to opt-out of routes they don't feel are safe.But others such as Wizz Air, Ryanair and airBaltic don't.AirBaltic said the airline meets an international safety standard that doesn't need to be adjusted.Ryanair, which intermittently flew to Jordan and Israel until September, said it makes security decisions based on EASA guidance.Passenger rights groups are also asking for travelers to receive more information.
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