United reroutes flight through Honolulu to avoid Iranian airspace

United Airlines has suspended its service between Newark and Mumbai, a route that regularly flies through Iranian airspace, after Iran shot down a U.S. military drone and as tensions between the two countries continue to escalate.

The flight carrying fewer than 200 passengers is being rerouted to Honolulu.

“In order to get the customers back to the states, we are flying between Mumbai and Honolulu. They will spend the night in Honolulu and depart the following day to Newark,” said spokesman Charlie Hobart.

He noted the flight is expected to arrived in Honolulu sometime tonight and depart for Newark Saturday morning.

“Obviously we’re going in the opposite direction than we normally go. Due to crew scheduling, we’ll need to make that stop in Honolulu,” Hobart said.

The FAA issued a flight restriction for Iranian airspace, spokesman Lynn Lunsford said. Neither Delta Air Lines nor American Airlines currently fly through Iranian airspace, Reuters had earlier reported.

U.S. and Iranian officials have differing accounts of whether the high-altitude U.S. Navy drone was over international or Iranian waters when it was shot down. The downing comes after weeks of rising tensions, including attacks on cargo ships that the U.S. has also blamed on Iran.

Though an Iranian military officer was quoted by state-run media as saying the drone was shot down in order to send a “clear message,” President Donald Trump downplayed the incident. While Trump’s first public reaction was to say on Twitter that Iran “made a very big mistake,” later at the White House he said he found it “hard to believe it was intentional. It could have been somebody who was loose and stupid.”

As many as 31 flights a week by U.S. carriers that include United, FedEx, Polaris and Atlas are affected by the prohibition, according to a Federal Aviation Administration.