MOSCOW, July 18 (RAPSI) – Russia’s largest air carriers announced in the aftermath of a Malaysian plane crash over Ukraine that they would re-route flights to bypass Ukraine.

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed near the city of Donetsk on Thursday. There were at least 280 passengers and 15 crew members on board.

“Aeroflot flights will bypass Ukraine,” Russia’s largest airline said on Twitter. A company spokesperson said they avoided flying over eastern Ukraine before the Malaysian plane crash. “Now we will avoid flying over all of Ukraine,” he said.

Russia’s second largest air carrier, Transaero, has also decided to re-route its flights to bypass Ukraine. The third largest airline, UTair, said it stopped flying over Ukraine more than a month ago.

As of Thursday evening, Turkish Airlines announced a decision to bypass Ukraine, while Lufthansa and Air France said they would not fly over Ukraine’s eastern regions.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a Notice to Airman (NOTAM) prohibiting US flight operations in the airspace over eastern Ukraine until further notice.

“The restricted area includes the entire Simferopol and Dnepropetrovsk flight information regions (FIRs).  This action expands a prohibition of US flight operations issued by the FAA in April, over the Crimean region of Ukraine and adjacent areas of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. No scheduled US airlines are currently flying routes through this airspace,” the FAA said in a press release.