Virgin Atlantic was fined $1.05 million by the United States Transportation Department (USDOT) for flying over restricted airspace over Iraq, USDOT revealed on Tuesday.

As the flights carried Delta Air Lines' code, the USDOT holds the authority to issue a penalty after it was discovered in an investigation that Virgin Atlantic flew over restricted airspace on numerous occasions between 2020 and 2021. US carriers are banned from flying over Iraq without approval as per a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) notice.

Virgin Atlantic responded to the findings and "immediately rerouted flights to avoid the airspace in question and informed its board and senior leadership of the issue."