Thanks, this article answers some of the questions that were left in my mind from the op-ed, which I was surprised it hadn't discussed. After reading the op-ed, it was unclear to me if lots of airlines were flying through this space, or if Malaysia Airlines was unique in doing so. The way it was written almost made me suspect he was defending Malaysia Airlines for having made an unusual decision to fly through space that other airlines were more prudently avoiding. But the article you link here mentions that flight traffic above 32,000 feet was not much down from pre-restriction levels, so Malaysia Airlines seems to have been doing what was the norm.