Russian Aircraft Banned from U.S. Airspace as Aviation World Responds to Ukraine Crisis
Joe Cortez March 02, 2022
The growing list of sanctions against both the Russian Federation and airlines operating there include cancelled interline agreements, closed airspace and reduced support to keep aircraft running.
U.S., European Union Closes Airspace, Businesses Cancel Agreements
According to CNN, the member nations of the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada all closed their airspace to all “Russian-owned, Russian-registered, or Russian-controlled” aircraft. This includes both commercial aircraft operated by carriers Aeroflot and S7 Airlines, along with all private civil aircraft.
The United States joined many of their NATO allies in closing airspace on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, when President Joe Biden announced the measure as a continued response to Russia in his State of the Union address. A bulletin later released by the Federal Aviation Administration announced the prohibition will begin on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
The U.S. airspace ban for Russian airlines and other planes takes effect at 2100 EST (9 pm) https://t.co/b9hcXXqQnZ pic.twitter.com/iWyaWV4ESE
— davidshepardson (@davidshepardson) March 2, 2022
Even though the airspace will be closed, several airlines already took the extraordinary step of cutting ties with the two major airlines based in Russia. American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines all announced they would suspend their codeshare and interline agreements with both Aeroflot and S7. Both Alaska and American had alliance partnerships with S7 via the Oneworld alliance, while Delta is a partner with Aeroflot through SkyTeam. Neither alliance has commented on the future of the Russian carriers in their organizations.
To complicate things further, both major commercial aircraft companies are suspending services to the Russian airlines. The Guardian reports both Airbus and Boeing have suspended support to the carriers, including providing parts, aircraft support and training. Boeing operates a training campus in Moscow, but the Chicago-based aerospace company told Reuters they have paused operations there.
Aviation Embargo Could Collapse Russian Aviation Industry
Without access to airports or support from other airlines and major aerospace companies, the makeshift embargo of Russian carriers could create major problems for the nation’s industry. An editorial in Aviation International News notes the sanctions could not only make aircraft unsafe, but also prevent air carriers from access to insurance and potentially cancelled aircraft leases – resulting in a meltdown for the Russian carriers.
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My local grocery store pulled all Russian salad dressing!
I see Emirates have an A380 (EK133) scheduled to arrive DME (ex DXB) at 1045 (UTC). Time for a Western boycott of Gulf State airlines supporting the Russian war machine.
They should have a link not just on russian airlines, but not allow the airspace to be used for flights to and from Russia. Air Serbia is providing a big loophole right now on the ban.
Where's the article talking about the impact of Russia closing its airspace to Western airlines in response?
How will that affect the US/EU airlines - not being able to fly over the pole anymore for West Coast US to EU, EU to Asia etc type of flights?
Aren't these long haul international flights the source of most profit in Western airlines right now?
This is a good point, but I think there have been contingencies for these routes already since the cold war.
The curvature of the Earth is why West Coast US to Europe goes over the pole (and Russia). Flying to avoid Russian airspace would increase distance flown by a significant margin. SFO-FRA is 5699 miles over the pole; it is 6442 miles if flown via SFO-JFK-FRA. So not just 13% more distance but more time. Screws up airport slots as well.
NRT-FRA goes from 5834 to 7980 (NRT-DXB-FRA).
I submit this means even less travel than existing post-COVID levels.
Not surprised at JAL cancelling all flights to Europe...
The curvature of the Earth is why West Coast US to Europe goes over the pole (and Russia)
Western USA - Europe does not fly over the pole or Russia.
Most of those flights don't go much further than 75N latitude.
The pole is 90N latitude.
It's North America - India, China and to a lesser extent Japan that are the big users of Russian Airspace.
Europe - much of Asia uses Russian airspace.
Maybe we'll go back to the era of Europe - Middle East - SE Asia - Japan routings.
Yep, always another route--we did it during the cold war and with less technically advanced aircraft (and ironically with better service, lol!).
I hope they can do everything to shut down DME. Yes, it may hurt the profits of western airlines, and I don't care. Russia needs to be defeated in this barbaric war.
Good - shut them down and let Putin stew in the mess of his own making.
Right On !