... politics ... interest groups ... I'm really cynical about this - I would assume someone in that country may have perceived an opportunity to exercise a little personal enhancement/reward and is "flexing their muscle" just to prove it.
ISTR was some Iraqi official(s) who decided not to accept sheep imports from Australia at one stage - in that case apparently someone decided to vary the prevalent specification for grease with little warning.
And just imaging if it was QF31 - "Flight QF31, the one prior to the flight that exploded in mid-air with the captain managing to land the aircraft without injuries"
There is nothing particularly tricky about Iraq...other than getting the news out that you have overflight clearance.
Numerous tracks are used depending upon the wind. Most common would be across the top of the Black Sea, through the middle of Afghanistan, into India and then across to coughet. But, you could take a track that takes you almost to Moscow, or alternatively one that goes across the eastern corner of the Med, and along the top of Saudi.
Dubai is an alternate for QF ops. Ground services are pre arranged and contracted. Passing through there is no big deal, and I think they've already had a couple of visits from QF 380s (one medical, and one around the time of the volcano).
I know the Herald Sun didn't mean it this way, but I actually was surprised to hear that it was the same flight number. Usually airlines stop using a flight number and change it for that route if they have a major incident or accident on that flight number. Just a sort of superstitious thing.
At least there are plenty of A380-capable gates at Dubai. Would they have kept the passengers on-board, trying to minimise the time delay to ensure the crew did not go out of hours? Once you let the passengers into the terminal you risk delayed departure as some wander off "exploring".
