Just the Facts:
On September 15th, North Korea launched another missile, for the first time crossing over Japanese landmass. This one flew for 19 minutes, flew 2300 miles, and was likely a variant of the Hwasong-12 missile.

With the extended range, it puts more airspace at risk from debris fields. Once can reasonably exclude quite a bit of this airspace, as all launches are easterly.
This launch passed over the airways below off the coast of Japan:

Continued caution should be taken in oceanic airspace west of North Korea.
For more reading, read our post on the missiles specific to the Sea of Japan:
https://ops.group/blog/heres-why-north-korean-missiles-are-now-a-real-threat-to-civil-aviation/
More on the topic:
- More: NAT CPDLC Route Uplinks: Crew Confusion and Errors
- More: Delays and Diversions at TNCM/St Maarten
- More: World Cup 2026 Ops Guide – USA, Mexico and Canada
- More: FAA Warns on Runway Length Data and Overrun Risk
- More: EASA’s New Cyber and Data Risk Rule for Operators in Europe
More reading:
- Latest: NAT CPDLC Route Uplinks: Crew Confusion and Errors
- Latest: Delays and Diversions at TNCM/St Maarten
- Latest: World Cup 2026 Ops Guide – USA, Mexico and Canada
- Safe Airspace: Risk Database
- Weekly Ops Bulletin: Subscribe
- Membership plans: Why join OPSGROUP?









Get the famous weekly 





