Explained: Russian planes to take long detours to fly out of country, here’s why

In 2019, Pakistan closed its airspace to India following the Balakot air strikes. Last year, European countries restricted flights from Belarus after the country forced an aircraft to land so it could arrest a dissenting journalist.

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Aeroflot’s flight from Belgrade in Serbia to Moscow, which took 2 hours 35 minutes of flight time on Friday, saw its flight time more than double to 5 hours 45 minutes on Sunday.(Source: AP)

Over the past few years, the use of airspace has emerged as a crucial tool by countries to affirm their stances in geopolitical conflicts. In 2019, Pakistan closed its airspace to India following the Balakot air strikes. Last year, European countries restricted flights from Belarus after the country forced an aircraft to land so it could arrest a dissenting journalist.

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In the latest Ukraine-Russia conflict, the jurisdictions opposing Russia’s move to invade Ukraine have started blockading their airspace to aircraft registered or operated by Russians.

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Restrictions on Russian planes highlighted in red. (Image courtesy: Flightradar24)

Other than Ukraine, which has its airspace closed for Russia since 2015, a total 29 countries have issued NOTAMs (Notice to Air Missions) disallowing use of their airspace to Russian planes. Notably, in several of these cases, Russia has reciprocated with prohibitions too.

Aeroflot Belgrade-Moscow flight route on Feb 27. (Image courtesy: Flightradar24)

According to information sourced from Flightradar24, the UK, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Austria, the Netherlands, Malta, Denmark, Canada, Luxembourg, Croatia, Albania, France, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Belgium and Sweden have closed their airspace for the Russians.

Aeroflot Belgrade-Moscow flight route on Feb 25. (Image courtesy: Flightradar24)

This means flights being operated by Russian airlines or Russia-registered private jets will have to undertake considerably lengthy detours to fly out of the country.

For example, Aeroflot’s flight from Belgrade in Serbia to Moscow, which took 2 hours 35 minutes of flight time on Friday, saw its flight time more than double to 5 hours 45 minutes on Sunday.

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