USDOT Fines Air France and KLM $425,000 Over Iraq Overflight Violations

The U.S. Transportation Department has fined Air France and KLM a combined $425,000 for operating more than 130 flights through FAA-prohibited Iraqi airspace between early 2022 and 2025. The flights in question carried Delta Air Lines codeshare designators, which places them under U.S. regulatory jurisdiction regardless of the operating carrier's flag.

An FAA order, in force for more than six years, bars flights over Iraq below 32,000 feet. The altitude floor is designed to keep aircraft beyond the reach of ground-based threats in a conflict zone. Foreign airlines escape the rule only when they fly without a U.S. partner's code attached.

What did the airlines actually do?

According to USDOT, Air France operated more than 30 prohibited flights and KLM more than 100, all carrying Delta codes between early 2022 and 2025. The department announced the penalties on Friday.

The arithmetic matters for context. Over roughly three years, the two carriers averaged more than 40 violations per year combined — KLM accounting for the bulk at more than 33 annually on its own. Each flight sold under Delta's code is, in regulatory terms, a U.S. flight.

Why do the airlines dispute the violations?

Both carriers argued that Iraqi air traffic controllers left them no choice. They said controllers directly instructed crews to descend because of conflicting traffic, or refused to allow them to climb, on the affected flights. In their telling, refusing an ATC instruction mid-route would itself have created a safety hazard.

On that basis, both argued the flights should have qualified under the "emergency situations" exemption. USDOT evidently disagreed, or at least valued the deterrence more than the defense. The fine stands.

The airlines did not immediately comment publicly. In their submissions to USDOT, Air France and KLM said they were fully committed to adhering to regulatory requirements at all times and took the issue extremely seriously.

Delta declined to comment. Codesharing is a marketing arrangement in which an airline places its designator code on a flight operated by another carrier and sells tickets for it — and, as this case demonstrates, inherits the other country's regulator along with the revenue.

How will the penalty be paid?

The settlement structure is only partly punitive. USDOT requires the airlines to pay $265,000 of the $425,000 within 60 days. The remaining $160,000 — roughly 38 percent of the total — becomes payable only if further violations occur within one year.

That suspended portion functions as a compliance bond. The two groups retain $160,000 only for as long as their crews stay above 32,000 feet over Iraq, or out of it entirely.

What does the case signal for codeshare operations?

The enforcement line drawn here is straightforward. A foreign carrier can fly any route its own authority permits, but the moment a U.S. code appears on the fuselage manifest, FAA prohibitions attach in full. For the Air France-KLM-Delta joint venture, the practical lesson is that airspace risk assessments must account for ATC instructions that cannot be anticipated before departure.

Whether the airlines file route adjustments, revise crew guidance on ATC conflicts, or absorb the suspended fine as a cost of doing business over Iraq remains to be seen over the next year.