Qantas and other airlines to avoid Iranian airspace after jet 'shot down'

Airlines are cancelling and re-routing flights travelling to and near Iran after a Ukrainian jet went down in Tehran and killing the 176 passengers and crew on board this week.

The Boeing 737, operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, crashed early Wednesday morning just moments after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran.

German airline Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines are among airlines holding off sending flights over Iranian and Iraqui airspace following the tragedy, possibly caused by an accidentally fired Iranian anti-aircraft missile.

Lufthansa confirmed on Twitter its Thursday Frankfurt to Tehran flight returned to Frankfurt as the company continued “to evaluate the situation on site together with national and international authorities”.

The company also informed customers flights to and from Tehran would be cancelled on Friday.

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“As soon as we have detailed information, we will decide if and when our Iranian flights can be operated again,” an additional tweet from the airline read.

“We regret the inconvenience for our passengers. Safety is the top priority for our employees and passengers.”

Austrian Airlines also tweeted stating it would be cancelling Thursday and Friday’s flights to Tehran.

A flight on Friday was diverted to a stopover in Sofia but then returned to its origin Vienna.

Several international airlines including Qantas changed flight routes to travel through the Middle East following rising tensions between Iran and the United States.

Thousands of passengers were expected to have interrupted travel itineraries amid growing fear passenger planes could become targets or by-products in the escalating turmoil.

The US Federal Aviation Authority on Wednesday also barred US airliners from flying over Iraq and Iranian airspace in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.

The FAA said it issued the ban "due to heightened military activities and increased political tensions in the Middle East, which present an inadvertent risk to US civil aviation operations".

Qantas' non-stop flight between Perth and London was the only route affected, the airline said.

However, some passengers due on the QF9 Perth to London leg had to be bumped from the flight to save fuel, as the new path takes 50 minutes longer, a Qantas spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Singapore Airlines has also said it will divert all flights from Iranian airspace.

Iran launched more than a dozen missiles on two US-led bases, in Erbil in northern Iraq and Al-Assad in the west, in response to the killing of Tehran's most senior military leader Qasem Soleimani.

With AAP

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