Just ... Wow

Malaysian Airlines, stung by two catastrophic losses of its planes and passengers this year (one missing in Asia from suicide or possibly terrorism (but if that, why no claims of success by terrorists?) and one shot down over Ukraine by pro-Russian forces). Naturally, the Malaysians want to avoid a third loss.

So Malaysian Airlines is avoiding Ukraine for a new route between Europe and Asia. Thank goodness, you may say. Not so fast:

After Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down Thursday by a ground-to-air missile in eastern Ukraine, airlines began to avoid the airspace above where the Ukrainian military has been fighting Russian-backed rebels. Swedish flight tracking service Flightradar24 AB posted a flight map on its Twitter account on Monday showing the change in the route of Malaysian Airlines flight MH4, which flies from Kuala Lumpur to London.

Flight tracking data showed this flight had previously crossed over eastern Ukraine. (Flight path: bit.ly/1wPJDUr) Syria is in the middle of a civil war in which 170,000 people have died since 2011.

Are you kidding me? Malaysian Airlines rerouted their flight over Syria? What? Was the air space over the Russian Buk SAM test range facility unavailable?

UPDATE: Thanks to Mad Minerva for the link.