Korean Air and Asiana flights to the Middle East made emergency returns or detours Monday as the US and UK opened retaliatory strikes against terrorist camps and the Taliban’s military headquarters and facilities in Afghanistan.

KAL cargo flight KE517, which took off from Incheon International Airport at 11:30am Sunday, heading to Basel via Tashkent, turned around in Chinese airspace and returned to IIA Monday morning. Also, another cargo carrier KE516 from Milan, Italy to Incheon skipped its Tashkent stop to avoid Uzbekistan airspace, detouring north through Russia.

Korean Air announced that all cargo carriers with a Tashkent stopover will detour through Russia, as their routes possibly coincide with those of American and British fighters. In addition, KE951, connecting Incheon, Dubai and Cairo, discontinued since September 20 after the terrorist attacks on US cities, will remain suspended until the end of the retaliatory war.

Asiana Air’s OZ594 from Frankfurt, which was scheduled to make a stop at Uzbekistan, detoured in the opposite direction via Anchorage. The airline said flights to or which pass through Tashkent will alter their routes in case of the airport being shutdown or Tashkent being included in restricted airspace.

The security department of Incheon Airport announced that it had decided at an emergency meeting on Monday that at least one flight attendant armed with a weapon will be onboard in every KAL and Asiana aircraft. The system is being reviving for the first timer in seven years since it was stopped in 1994 following adoption in 1969 when a passenger flight was hijacked to North Korea. An airport official said that the security attendant will be selected among stewards with martial arts skills, and since some 600 to 900 additional personnel will be needed, the system will be enforced gradually.

(Choi Hong-ryeol, hrchoi@chosun.com )