Aeroflot cancels all flights to European destinations after banning Russian planes from EU airspace Business

Russian airline Aeroflot has been forced to cancel all flights to European destinations after planes were redirected mid-flight following an EU decision to ban all Russian planes from entering in its airspace.

The European Commission announced on Sunday a bloc-wide ban on Russian-owned planes entering the bloc’s airspace or landing at their airports after states including France and Belgium introduced their own restrictions.

As a result, Aeroflot was forced to hijack two planes bound for Paris and Brussels from Moscow mid-flight on Sunday. He then said he was canceling all flights to European destinations until further notice.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the decision to ban Russian airlines was a “defining moment for our Union”.

The UK has also separately closed its airspace to Russian jets.

Dozens of flights were canceled over the weekend as carriers scrambled to get to grips with the new curbs. Hungarian airline Wizz Air announced it was temporarily suspending flights to and from Russia, while German Lufthansa and Dutch carrier KLM also announced suspensions.

On Sunday, two KLM jets backtracked en route to Moscow and St Petersburg, with the company saying EU sanctions meant it was no longer able to send plane parts to the country. A spokesperson said: “This means that KLM can no longer guarantee that flights to Russia or passing through Russian territory will be able to return safely.”

Russia has introduced its own restrictions in retaliation for the bans, announcing restrictions on aircraft from countries including Slovenia, Poland and the UK.

British Airways said last week that re-routing to avoid Russian airspace would mean it would face higher fuel costs and flight times could be longer. However, the disruption is expected to be less significant than it usually would be as British Airways is still operating fewer flights to Asia than normal due to the pandemic.

General manager Sean Doyla said it shouldn’t have a “dramatic impact” on ticket prices. However, BA is expected to be among the hardest hit by the move, given that it operates around a third of all passenger flights between Russia and the UK each week. The others are flown by the Russian company Aeroflot.

Virgin Atlantic, meanwhile, said flights to India and Pakistan would take between 15 minutes and an hour longer. It interrupted a freight-only route between London and Shanghai.