Major airlines including Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Qatar Airways are preparing to halt services to Kurdistan as Iraq moves to sever outside ties with the autonomous region following Monday’s independence vote. International flights will be suspended at 6 p.m. Friday, Hussein Mohsen, acting director general of the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority, said in an interview, though Lufthansa was among airlines saying there’s some confusion regarding the ban, with no formal NOTAM—or “Notice to Airmen”—yet received. Mohsen told Bloomberg that Iraq will take appropriate steps against any carrier violating the moratorium on flights to the regional capital Erbil and the city of Sulaimaniya near the Iranian border, which it says are national assets. It didn’t specify what those measures might be. Mawloud Bawmurad, the region’s transport minister, said the hubs belong to Kurdistan and will remain open, according to the local Rudaw news service. This week’s poll saw 93 percent of the votes cast back statehood, according to official results, prompting the Kurdistan Regional Government to say that it will seek talks with Baghdad on the “next step.” Iraq warned that it would impose “the authority of the federal government” on the region, while Iranian lawmakers also condemned the outcome as “destructive,” and Turkey hinted that it might halt Kurdish oil exports via a pipeline to its Mediterranean coast. Federal Approval Flights to Erbil and Sulaimaniya operated by domestic operators will be allowed to continue, the CAA’s Mohsen said. Humanitarian and emergency services are also excluded from the banning order, but will require approval from federal authorities, according to a statement from Iraq’s cabinet. Air links to Kurdistan were gradually restored following the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003, with Lufthansa’s Austrian Air the first West European operator to serve Erbil, with flights from Vienna in 2010. Connections were terminated again at the height of conflict with Islamic State, before being built back up. Austrian, which currently serves Erbil daily, said it will operate as usual on Friday, after which flights will cease if airspace is closed. Its parent Lufthansa connects with Kurdistan twice weekly and said that a trip scheduled for Saturday remains in its systems, though could be scrapped at short notice. Germania, which connects Munich with Erbil on Tuesday and Sulaimaniya on Saturdays, warned travelers about a possible suspension of flights via its website and said it would update them accordingly. In the Mideast, Turkey and Iran ordered an end to flights and Qatar Air said it will halt services Friday “until further notice.” The Jordanian and Lebanese national carriers and discount operator FlyDubai will also cease operations.