Several countries in Europe closed their airspace to Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine by Kremlin troops.
This Saturday (26), Estonia, Latvia, Romania and Slovenia announced that they would ban Russian airlines. The Czech Republic will close its airspace from Sunday (27) – the country had previously banned Russian airlines from operating on the ground at local airports.
Bulgaria stopped accepting flights from Russia on Friday (25). Previously, the United Kingdom had already barred the Russian company Aeroflot from flying over its territory, as well as private jets from that country. Russia took the same attitude as a form of retaliation against England.
In the United States, Delta Air Lines said it would suspend a code-sharing agreement with Russia’s Aeroflot.
“There is no place for planes of the aggressor state in democratic skies,” said Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. She also called on other European Union countries to adopt similar restrictions.
In response, Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviation, closed its country’s airspace to flights from Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic, including transit flights.
Closing airspace means routes out of Moscow can take longer to reach destinations as they have to bypass countries where the ban is active. For example, a trip from the Russian capital to Budapest takes around 75 minutes longer, according to the website Flightradar 24.
The same is true for routes that avoid Russian airspace. Virgin Atlantic said it will avoid flying over the country, which will increase its flights between the United Kingdom and India and Pakistan by between 15 minutes and an hour.
In addition, some airlines are avoiding the airspace of Moldova and Belarus, countries neighboring Ukraine, in addition to flying over Ukraine itself.​ On Thursday (24), shortly after the invasion of Ukraine, Russia closed its airspace to flights. civilians on the eastern border with Ukraine and Belarus.​
