NEW DELHI: Air India will reroute flights to avoid Iranian air space, an official said Saturday, as tensions ratchet up following Tehran's downing of a US drone.

A spokesman for the country's biggest state-run carrier said it was told to alter its flight paths by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) -- the aviation regulator.

"Air India has received the DGCA notice regarding operations in the Iranian airspace and we are monitoring the situation," Dhananjay Kumar told AFP.

"We will take appropriate actions whenever necessary to prevent inconvenience to passengers."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States issued a notice Friday, prohibiting US-registered aircraft from operating over the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, following Thursday's strike on a reconnaissance drone near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Saturday's decision means Indian commercial and cargo flights towards middle-eastern and European countries, as well as the US, will have to take lengthy and costly detours.

Major airlines around the world have already said they would suspend their flights over Iranian airspace.—AFP