Russian airlines have been barred from flying over several European countries, shutting off carriers such as Aeroflot from the shortest routes heading west.
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia prohibited Russian planes from landing or overflying their airspace on Saturday, joining Poland, Bulgaria, Moldova, the Czech Republic and the UK, which earlier issued similar declarations in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In Germany, transport minister Volker Wissing ordered preparations to close the nation’s airspace to Russian planes, while Lufthansa said it wouldn’t fly to or across Russia for seven days.
Together with a no-fly zone in and around the area of conflict, the latest moves wall off Russian carriers, forcing them to head south as far as Turkey to get to countries such as France or the Netherlands. A northern alternative route via Finland is now closed off.
Russia retaliated, cutting off its airspace to Romanian, Polish, Czech and Bulgarian operators, adding to the list of airlines facing longer flights and higher fuel costs heading east. British Airways was already affected after the UK was barred by Moscow on Friday.
The situation has echoes of the Cold War, when western carriers weren’t able to cross Siberia on their way to Japan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea for some decades.
Repercussions for carriers quickly stacked up. Three planes from Germany, including two passenger jets operated by Lufthansa, appeared to turn around in Russian airspace, according to air traffic-monitoring website ADS-B Exchange.
Two jets operated by Dutch carrier KLM had to turn around on their way to Moscow and St Petersburg. The airline cited new EU sanctions barring aircraft parts being sent to Russia, even for its own planes.
“This means KLM can no longer guarantee that flights to Russia can return safely,” the airline said on Saturday.
On Friday, the US’s Delta Air Lines suspended a marketing agreement with Aeroflot, Russia’s national airline.
Russian carrier S7 cancelled flights to most of the 16 West European cities it serves, including Paris, Milan and Barcelona, until March 13. Latvia’s airBaltic did the same for service to Russia until March 26, citing “increased risk and imposed restrictions”.
Twenty-four passenger flights usually operate between the UK and Russia each week. Of those, two-thirds are with Aeroflot, with the rest flown by British Airways.
For now, the long-haul diversions will cause UK carriers such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic limited pain, since Covid-19 restrictions in Asia mean there are few flights operating. Passenger service to Hong Kong was paused until mid-March because of the pandemic, Virgin said on Friday.
Altogether, there were about 2,000 flights scheduled from Europe to Asia for the week starting March 1. While that’s below pre-Covid-19 levels, Singapore and Japan are starting to ease travel barriers, even if China and Hong Kong remain essentially closed.
“The impact for us is not huge because right now we are only flying to a small number of destinations in Asia and we can reroute our flights,” Luis Gallego, CEO of British Airways parent IAG SA, said.
The impact would widen if the EU were to follow the lead of the UK and countries in central and eastern Europe. That would draw carriers such as Air France into more disruptions.
The idea of an airspace ban hadn’t come up in official discussions, but nothing is completely off the table, an EU diplomat said on Friday, asking not to be named.
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— Bloomberg
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