The national carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) on July 18 announced that it rescheduled four flights on July 17 following the crash of a Malaysian Airlines plane in Ukraine.

The rescheduling was aimed at changing flight paths to avoid the area where the Malaysian Airlines plane MH17 crashed. The VNA flights which were rescheduled included the VN37 Hanoi – Frankfurt flight, VN17 Hanoi – Paris flight, VN55 Ha Noi – London flight and VN11 HCM City – Paris flight.

VNA said that these flights left today morning, about three to five hours later than their scheduled time of departure.

According to rt.com news website, many airlines around the world have announced that they are going to divert flights away from the Ukrainian airspace. These airlines include Russia's Aeroflot, UTair and Transaero; Germany's Lufthansa; Belarus's Belavia; Eva Air; Korean Air Lines; Asiana Airlines; and the Swedish SCA.

Flight MH17 crashed in east Ukraine while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, and was carrying 298 passengers.

VNS/VNN