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EU bans Russian flights in response to war in Ukraine

Courtesy of Flightradar24.com

Aeroflot has been forced to divert flights after the European Commission imposed a ban on Russian aircraft entering its airspace.

The action covers the 27-country bloc and follows the UK shutting its airspace to Russian aircraft following the invasion of Ukraine.

Aeroflot said it was cancelling all flights to European destinations until further notice.

The measure came after Russia banned airlines from European countries including the UK, Bulgaria, Poland and Czech Republic from flying over or landing on its territory.

This means that flights to Asia from the UK have to be rerouted to avoid Russian airspace.

Dozens of flights were grounded over the weekend in response to the turmoil, compounded by a computer glitch at British Airways which stopped all short haul flights to and from Heathrow on Saturday morning.

A total of 2,792 aircraft were tracked passing through Russian-controlled airspace on February 24, according to latest analysis by flight data firm Cirium.

Russia’s S7 Airlines said it would cancel flights to many of its European destinations until at least March 13.

Finnair cancelled flights from Helsinki to Seoul, Osaka, Tokyo, Shanghai and Guangzhou in Asia and to Moscow and St Petersburg until March 6. Flights to Hong Kong were previously cancelled until the end of March.

Finnair is continuing to operate passenger flights to Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore and Delhi but rerouted to avoid Russian airspace, lengthening the flight times by about one hour.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced a package of measures against Russia on Sunday in what she described as a “watershed moment”.

She said: “First, we are shutting down the EU airspace for Russians.

“We are proposing a prohibition on all Russian-owned, Russian registered or Russian-controlled aircraft.

“These aircraft will no more be able to land in, take off or overfly the territory of the EU.

“This will apply to any plane owned, chartered or otherwise controlled by a Russian legal or natural person.

“So let me be very clear. Our airspace will be closed to every Russian plane – and that includes the private jets of oligarchs.”

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