Russian Airlines Are Banned From The Baltic Region
More countries across Europe have announced they will ban Russian airlines and Russian-registered aircraft from their respective airspaces as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. In a matter of days, Russian carriers have been prohibited from using the airspace of at least nine countries (including several in the Baltic region), and more could follow. The European Union could block Russian aircraft at any moment, according to reports.
New unavailable areas to Russian airlines
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to impact the Russian aviation industry. It all started with the United Kingdom blocking Russian airlines (Aeroflot had a daily flight between Moscow and London) and private aircraft.
Shortly after, new countries have continued to close their airspaces to Russia. Poland and the Czech Republic were the first to follow the British lead. Both countries had experienced “the aggressive policy of Russia, or the Soviet Union” in the past (as Czechia’s Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, said), making them more sensitive to Ukraine’s invasion.
On Saturday, six new countries blocked (or announced bans) their airspaces to Russian airlines and aircraft. These countries are Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, Romania, and Bulgaria. In the next few hours, more nations could launch similar sanctions. At the moment of publishing this article, there's a possibility that the entire European Union will block its airspace to Russian airlines and aircraft, as reported by Germany's ARD.
Current Aeroflot flights in Europe, west of Russian airspace.
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 26, 2022
Use airline code ‘AFL’ to filter Aeroflot flights. pic.twitter.com/jt6NTcecB5
Blocked from the Baltic
Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland have all banned Russian airlines and aircraft from their airspaces, therefore almost effectively blocking them from flying through the Baltic into Central and Western Europe. The two ways Russian airlines currently have to fly into these regions are via Finland or Turkey.
On Friday, Aeroflot’s flight SU2466 from Moscow to Budapest had to add about 70 minutes of flight time following Poland and Czechia’s ban. At that time, neither of the three Baltic states had blocked Russian airlines, or the flight time would have been even longer.
Lithuania will ban Russian airlines from 22:00 GMT on Saturday, as reported by Reuters. Moreover, Lithuania is the shortest route from mainland Russia to its Kaliningrad exclave. At the time of writing this article, around 18:00 UTC, several Aeroflot flights were rushing back to Russia via Lithuania.
Latvia’s Justice Minister Janis Bordans wrote on Twitter that the country will close its airspace to Russian flights. Nonetheless, there is still no further information on when that will come into effect.
Estonia has already banned Russia from its airspace. The flag carrier, airBaltic, has announced it is halting all its flights to Russia.
Russian responses
So far, Russia has responded to every airspace ban from European countries in the same fashion. Russia has blocked British, Polish, and Czech carriers and aircraft from using its airspace. Most likely, it will do the same with carriers and aircraft from other European countries that have already imposed airspace bans.
Russia has the Siberian corridor, which is one of the most lucrative airspaces in the world, helping airlines connect Europe and Asia in a much faster way. Blocking its airspace could launch the world connectivity to a state not seen since the end of the Cold War. For instance, Anchorage International Airport in Alaska is already receiving inquiries from airlines about capacity and available services. Anchorage was, in the Cold War, the crossroads of the world.
How impacted is Aeroflot so far?
According to an OAG post on the subject, Aeroflot’s planned international schedule has approximately 5,500 flights to markets in Europe. Aeroflot’s top ten markets include Turkey, Ukraine, Germany, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Italy, Finland, Moldova, and Hungary. Besides Ukraine (and we are talking about flights to the Crimean region here), none of the top ten Aeroflot’s served countries in Europe have banned Russia from their airspaces. So far.
Additionally, only one of Aeroflot’s international point of sale revenues have also blocked the airline. These countries are Germany, the USA, China, Kazakhstan, Italy, Japan, France, and the United Kingdom.
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