Russia blocked its airspace to even more flights today, claiming it was a proportional response to the expanding list of penalties placed on it by governments across the world over its invasion of Ukraine. The use of Russia's airspace is currently prohibited for aircraft from 36 nations.
36 nations on the list
The list of nations whose airlines are no longer permitted to access Russia's vast airspace was revised today by Russia's aviation authorities. Many long-haul routes to Asia from Europe will be severely harmed as a result of the action, just as European nations' prohibitions on Russian planes accessing their own airspaces have harmed Russia's carriers.
The following is the list as of Monday, February 28th, 2022, in the evening:
Albania, Anguilla, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark (including Greenland, Faroe Islands, and Territorial Seas), Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Gibraltar, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Serbia is a significant exclusion from the list. Air Serbia, the country's flag airline, continues to fly to Russia as President Aleksandar Vučić refuses to put sanctions on the country.
Air Serbia, the country's flag airline, stands to benefit greatly from this. The market between Belgrade and Russia has been booming for quite some time. Air Serbia is the only airline that can fly the route at the moment.
For the rest of the week, flights between Moscow (SVO) and Belgrade (BEG) are sold out. There are seven more rotations to go.
Despite the fact that the airline has increased capacity by booking its wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the route, flights have once again sold out. The A330 will be flying the trip as early as tomorrow.
