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By Nadia Saleem
DUBAI, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Most Gulf airlines said on Sundaythey were re-routing flights to avoid Egypt's Sinai Peninsula,where a Russian aircraft carrying 224 passengers crashed onSaturday.
Carriers from United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain andKuwait said they would re-route flights as a security precautionuntil there was more clarity. Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways said itwould continue to fly over Sinai but avoid certain areas on theadvice of Egyptian authorities.
Air traffic in the region has been on alert since a militantgroup linked to Islamic State in Egypt said it had brought downthe plane "in response to Russian air strikes that killedhundreds of Muslims on Syrian land".
A Russian aviation official said the aircraft had broken upin mid-air but it was too early to draw any conclusions. TheRussian plane crashed on Saturday into a mountainous area ofcentral Sinai.
On Saturday, German carrier Lufthansa and AirFrance-KLM said they had decided to avoid flying overthe peninsula while they waited for clarity on what caused thecrash.
Qatar Airways, budget carrier Jazeera Airways fromKuwait and Bahrain's Gulf Air said late on Sunday that theywould avoid flying over the peninsula, according to separatestatements emailed to Reuters.
"Out of an abundance of caution, Qatar Airways will re-routeflights to avoid the Sinai Peninsula airspace until moreinformation is known regarding the tragic loss," the Doha-basedairline said.
Earlier in the day, Emirates, flydubai and Air Arabia, allfrom the United Arab Emirates, confirmed taking the samesecurity precautions.
Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways said it continues to fly over theSinai region but is avoiding airspace over some of its areas inaccordance with instructions by the Egyptian authorities. Thiswould impact "a handful" of its flights, it said in a statement.
Re-routing usually means longer flying distances, which addto fuel costs.
British budget carrier easyJet said it was takingadvice from all relevant authorities and was continuing to"actively review" the situation. It said that it, like otherBritish airlines, did not overfly central and northern Sinai onthe advice of Britain's Department of Transport.
"Based on the information received to date, easyJet plans tocontinue to operate flights to Egypt to carry holidaymakers asplanned to and from Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada but willcontinue to actively review the situation," it said in astatement.
British Airways said in a statement that it did notdiscuss flight routes, "however we would never fly a routeunless it was safe to do so". (Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Stanley Carvalho;Editing by Tom Heneghan)
