Flight cancelations, airspace bans, sanctions, and more. Much of the aviation world has been turned
upside down as a result of the ongoing situation in Eastern Europe. While the
human toll is indisputably more important than anything to do with aircraft and airlines,
we’ll do our best today to cover significant news over the past week
as it relates to aviation and the situation in Ukraine. Let’s get started…
Flight cancelations were some of the earliest actions taken due to the news
of Russia’s anticipated advance into Ukraine. Lufthansa and KLM were among
the first airlines to make moves and suspend services around February 21st.
airBaltic eventually joined KLM and Lufthansa by canceling flights. Interestingly, in mid-February,
the Latvian carrier had actually announced two additional flights leaving Kyiv
to address a surge in passenger demand. This move was conducted
at a time when other airlines were increasingly canceling services.
The airline then halted overnight stops in Ukraine before completely stopping flights to the country.
With the situation intensifying significantly days later,
airlines then moved to avoid Russian airspace.
Indeed, some aircraft en route to Russia, or flying through
Russian airspace, were even diverted mid-flight.
In one example, we saw Lufthansa flight LH718 between Munich and Seoul,
diverting back to Germany while flying over Russia.
For KLM, flights KL903 and KL1395 were headed to Moscow and St. Petersburg respectively,
when the decision was announced.
KL903 was actually on its final approach to Moscow Sheremetyevo when it was ordered to
return to Amsterdam. Meanwhile, KL1395 was over Estonia when it turned back.
Airlines canceling flights out of precaution was just the beginning.
Soon after, airspace bans came flooding in.
On February 24th, UK Prime Minister Boris Johson, announced that his country
had banned Russian flag carrier Aeroflot from operating flights to or through its airspace.
Indeed, the UK was the first to officially ban the State-owned airline.
Soon after, Rosaviatsiya – Russia’s civil aviation authority - said
that all flights by UK carriers to Russia as well as transit flights,
were banned effective February 25th. In a statement, Rosaviatsiya said,
“This measure was taken in accordance with the provisions of the Intergovernmental Air
Services Agreement between Russia and the UK as a response to unfriendly decisions
of the UK Aviation Authorities regarding the restriction on regular flights of aircraft owned,
leased or operated by a person associated with Russia or registered in Russia.”
Around the same time as Russia’s announcement,
however, Poland became the 1st EU Country To Ban Russian Airlines From Its Airspace.
Following close after, Czechia, or the Czech Republic, also banned Russian airlines from
flying to their territory. The ban went into effect on February 26th.
Czechia’s Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, said the following at the time of the announcement:
"We are a country which experienced the aggressive policy of Russia, or the Soviet Union,
and our unique historical experience makes us much more sensitive. We debated (at the EU
summit) how far should we go with the sanctions, and the Czech Republic holds a tougher stance.”
Shortly after that, the countries of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia,
Romania, and Bulgaria all banned Russian aircraft from their airspace.
The most significant move took place on February 27th
when the EU imposed a blanket flight ban on Russian planes.
"We are shutting down EU airspace for Russian-owned,
Russian-registered or Russian-controlled aircraft," the Head of the EU said in a statement.
At the time of the announcement, the BBC noted that departure boards
at Moscow's Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo airports showed dozens of cancellations,
including flights to Paris, Vienna and Kaliningrad.
The results of these earlier bans included some interesting flight paths,
with Aeroflot jets taking much longer routing for normally short flights,
navigating through whatever little airspace was available to them.
One example, as reported by FlightRadar24, saw Aeroflot’s SU2091 fly from Belgrade to Moscow, via
Kazakhstan! The Flight time was five hours and 45 minutes instead of just two hours and 35 minutes.
Joining Europe in banning Russian flights on February 27th
was Canada. This was followed by the United States on March 1st.
In Canada, it was reported on February 27th that an Aeroflot
aircraft violated the newly imposed flyover restrictions.
The flight, SU111, had originated in Miami and had flown through
Canadian airspace roughly five hours after restrictions were implemented.
Transport Canada said that it would conduct an investigation into the airspace breach and would
be taking steps to ensure that the situation isn’t repeated. The government ministry added
that it would not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action to prevent future violations.
Canadian air traffic control manager, NAVCAN, noted that Aeroflot had declared a humanitarian
flight, requiring special handling by air traffic control. In a statement, the agency said:
"We are currently cooperating with Transport Canada to investigate the occurrence,
and are working with neighbouring Air Navigation Service Providers
to support rerouting of aircraft prior to them entering Canadian-controlled airspace."
As for Russia, following its ban of UK aircraft in its airspace, it moved to reciprocate and ban
aircraft from other nations as a response to escalating sanctions. By February 28th,
airlines from 36 nations had been banned from Russian airspace.
As for Aeroflot, the carrier this week had canceled all flights to Europe,
the United States, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba.
As is quite clear by now, the Russian flag carrier has been hit the hardest by this series of bans
and restrictions. However, the fallout for the Russian carrier didn’t stop at flight routing.
On February 25th, Delta Air Lines withdrew its codeshare service operated in conjunction with
Aeroflot. This made the US carrier the first airline to end its partnership
due to the situation in Ukraine.
The airline said the following in a statement:
“We have removed our code from Aeroflot-operated services beyond Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport
and removed Aeroflot’s code from Delta-operated services from Los
Angeles and New York-JFK. Accommodations will be made for customers affected by these changes.
Delta does not operate services to Ukraine or Russia.”
Simple Flying reached out to the SkyTeam alliance to ask if Aeroflot would be removed from the
alliance. A representative stated, "SkyTeam is monitoring ongoing events in Ukraine closely
and is in contact with our members to assess the situation as it evolves."
For fellow Russian airline S7, Alaska Airlines announced on March 1st that it would be suspending
its partnership with the carrier. This means that Alaska Airlines passengers are now unable to earn
miles on S7 flights. Alaska also canceled its interline agreements with both S7 and Aeroflot.
On the ground, English football squad Manchester United has dropped its partnership with Aeroflot.
The airline has been the Red Devil’s long-term sponsor since 2013
with a deal worth £40 million that would run until 2023.
In an extremely simple statement on its website, Manchester United said:
“In light of events in Ukraine, we have withdrawn Aeroflot’s sponsorship rights.
“We share the concerns of our fans around the world
and extend our sympathies to those affected.”
Unsurprisingly, the situation has extended well-beyond airline routes,
codeshares, and other partnerships.
On February 25th, the European Union shared that it would ban the export of all aircraft,
equipment, and spare parts to Russia- a move
falling under broader sanctions imposed by the European Commission.
For its part, Boeing said on March 1st that it would be quote “suspending parts,
maintenance and technical support services for Russian airlines.”
Sources note that the company will also be suspending “major operations”
at its Moscow offices, which perform significant fleet support and design work.
On top of Russian airlines having far fewer international destinations,
it looks like they will also have far fewer aircraft.
On February 27th, it was reported that Irish-based aviation lessors were expected to terminate their
leasing agreements with Russian carriers, with firms establishing taskforces to help them get
their aircraft out of the country and calculate the financial impact of impending sanctions.
Under EU sanctions announced, leasing firms have 30 days from February 27th
to terminate all contracts with Russian carriers.
One industry insider said to the Irish Times,
"All the lessors have taskforces established within their own businesses,
and a lot of them will be trying to get aircraft out of Russia
and take them back – because they’ll be grounded for who knows how long."
The combined value of Irish-owned aircraft on lease in Russia amounts to billions of dollars.
Airfinance Journal claims that AerCap's aircraft in Russia
are reportedly worth a combined $2.4 billion, amounting to around 5% of its total portfolio.
Unconfirmed reports have suggested that some repossessions are already taking place.
Russian news outlet RBU stated that an Irish-owned Pobeda Boeing 737,
which landed in Istanbul, was prevented from flying back to Russia.
On the Ukrainian side, Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) confirmed on the 27th that it
would extend the suspension of its scheduled and charter services until March 23rd.
Even before Russia’s advance into Ukraine, UIA’s insurers had terminated coverage for
at least some of the airline’s fleet operating in Ukrainian airspace.
As early as February 14th, several jets had already been flown out of Kyiv for long-term
storage. Five of the carrier's 12 Boeing 737-800 aircraft headed to Castellon Airport (CDT)
in Spain on Valentine's Day. Around the same time,
two other planes were sent to Serbia for scheduled maintenance.
UIA’s relocation of aircraft was followed shortly after by
fellow Ukrainian airline Bees. Indeed, four 737s left Kyiv Zhuliany Airport
for Montpellier-Méditerranée in France before the conflict had fully erupted.
The airline told FlightGlobal: "According to the lessor, all aircraft will be returned to us in
the event of de-escalation of the military risk situation. (...) Owing to these circumstances
of ‘force majeure’ we ask all passengers to be aware of possible delays and schedule changes."
Finally, we have to also sadly mention that Ukraine has
officially confirmed that the world's only Antonov An-225 Mriya
was destroyed amid the conflict. A low-quality photo of an already-poor quality drone
video showed the aircraft on fire inside a hangar at Hostomel Airport in Kyiv Oblast.
Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs posted to Twitter saying:
"Russia may have destroyed our ‘Mriya’. But they will never be able to destroy our dream
of a strong, free and democratic European state, We shall prevail!"
The country has declared that it will rebuild the aircraft as it looks to a brighter future.
As you can see, a lot has happened over the past two weeks
and we can be quite certain that more will take place in the days to come.
While we may miss new developments in this video, you’ll find any and all updates on our website,
at SimpleFlying.com. Have you been affected
by any flight cancelations and airspace bans? Share your experience by leaving a comment.