Simple Flying reports that the US Department of Transportation has fined Air France and KLM. According to the video, both carriers operated flights carrying a Delta Air Lines code below 32,000 feet above Iraq. The FAA prohibits US operators from flying in foreign managed airspace where conflict or heightened tensions threaten safety. Because the flights carried a US flight number, that restriction applied to them as well. Simple Flying notes that this is not the first case of its kind.

The case against Air France and KLM

The video puts the fine for Air France at $105,000 and the sum for KLM at $320,000. It says the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) investigated the operations of both airlines. According to Simple Flying, Air France operated more than 30 flights with a Delta codeshare in the prohibited airspace of the Baghdad flight information region between January 2022 and May 2025, while KLM flew more than 100. Delta did not operate these flights itself. Its flight numbers were placed on the Air France and KLM services through a marketing arrangement, a common practice in which one airline puts its designator code on flights operated by a partner. The video also quotes the US Transportation Secretary, who says that following US safety rules is not optional for any airline carrying a US code.

Altitude deviations and ATC instructions

The action by the DOT is based on reports that both airlines flew below 32,000 feet in the Baghdad region. According to the video, Air France and KLM dispute responsibility for these altitude deviations. They suggest that air traffic controllers were directing the altitude of the aircraft. Simple Flying frames the central question as whether an airline should be penalised for flying below the prohibited altitude while following ATC instructions. The video says the combined penalty comes to $425,000. Of that amount, $265,000 is due within 60 days. The remaining $160,000 is only payable if either airline commits a similar violation within the next year. Both airlines told the DOT that they take regulatory compliance seriously and that neither deliberately ignored the restrictions.

Earlier fines for other airlines

Simple Flying recalls reports from 2024 that Emirates was fined $1.5 million for flights in prohibited airspace between December 2021 and August 2022. Those flights between the United Arab Emirates and the United States carried the JetBlue Airways code. According to the video, Emirates also planned to avoid the restricted zone but had to descend into it on instructions from air traffic control. In the same year Air Canada, Ethiopian Airlines and Etihad Airways were fined for breaching FAA airspace restrictions on flights that carried the codes of US carriers. The video lists $250,000 for Air Canada, $425,000 for Ethiopian Airlines and $400,000 for Etihad Airways. Simple Flying says pilots are caught between FAA compliance and ATC instructions.