Originally Posted by
Changeup2000
YVR - PEK route is severely affected by the Russian airspace ban. The southernmost part of Russia Far East is almost as south as Beijing, and you need to fly over North Korea to go around it.
It’s not just YVR-PEK, most flights between Canada and China would pass through Russian airspace on most flights. PVG-YVR, HKG-YVR, and to a less extend, HKG-YYZ, are the only 3 flights that can reasonably avoid Russian airspace most of the time.
And yes, for TPAC flights from Beijing, the only way to avoid Russian airspace is to fly southeast to South Korea, then flying east just south of the North Korea border to Japan, and then flying northeast along the east coast of Japan. That would add 3 hours of time on the eastbound, and possibly more on the westbound as it’s more likely flying against the jet stream.