The Indian government Friday asked its national carrier, Air India, to avoid flying over the troubled Ukrainian airspace in the wake of the Malaysian plane crash in which some 298 people were killed, sources said.

"The decision was taken at a meeting between Indian Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju and senior officials of the ministry. Air India has been directed not to fly over the troubled Ukrainian airspace and instead take alternate route," the sources said.

However, the government is not planning to issue any such direction to private airlines in India, they said.

All the 298 people on board that ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight -- from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur -- were killed when it crashed Thursday in Ukraine near the Russian border.