Image courtesy of Flightradar24.com
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered a massive number of flight cancellations, according to data from analyst ForwardKeys.
Airline bookings data analysed by ForwardKeys revealed an instant spike in cancellations to Russia the day after the invasion launched on Thursday February 24, with six cancellations for every travel booking.
The Russian outbound travel market also collapsed along with domestic flight bookings.
Cancellations outweighed bookings from Germany by 773%, France 472%, India 285%, the UK 254% and Italy 152%.
Cyprus saw the highest cancellation rate by prospective Russian visitors in the first three days of the invasion, followed by Egypt.
ForwardKeys noted that prior to the invasion, Russian outbound flight bookings had recovered to 32% of pre-pandemic levels for March, April and May, with bookings to Mexico, the Seychelles and Egypt well ahead of 2019 levels.
Russian visitors represent a high proportion of international arrivals to destinations such as the Seychelles, where they were due to comprise 16% of visitors this spring, the Maldives 15% of visitors and Cyprus 13%.
ForwardKeys identified the top-20 destinations booked by Russian travellers for the period of March to May as Turkey, the UAE, the Maldives, Thailand, Greece, Egypt, Cyprus, Armenia, the Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Hungary, Bulgaria, Mexico, Spain, Azerbaijan, the US, UK, Qatar, Italy and Uzbekistan.
Domestic flight bookings fell 77% week on week following the invasion when they had been running 25% ahead of pre-pandemic levels for the months of March, April and May.
Olivier Ponti, ForwardKeys insights vice-president, said: “The Russian tourism economy was beginning to revive from the pandemic and will now experience another substantial blow.
“There will also be serious impacts on destinations that depend heavily on Russian visitors.”
He noted: “The data does not yet contain the impact of sanctions, which is bound to make the picture worse. However, while the economic damage already looks set to be dreadful, it is nothing compared to the human suffering.”
Finnair is to resume flights to Japan, avoiding Russian airspace, due to the conflict in Ukraine. The new flight time will increase to approximately 13 hours when services resume from March 9. The airline will serve Tokyo Narita four times a week from Helsinki, allowing connections to the carrier’s European network.
Meanwhile, an emergency session of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) executive council in response to the invasion of Ukraine will be held in Madrid on March 8 amid international calls for Russia’s membership to be suspended.
The UNWTO “unequivocally condemned” the actions of the Russian Federation, noting that they are a clear breach of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity and contrary to the principles enshrined in the UN Charter and UNWTO statutes.