Airlines Avoid Belarusian Airspace over Plane Diversion, Arrest of Journalist

WASHINGTON - Airlines re-routed flights to avoid Belarusian airspace Tuesday in the aftermath of the Minsk government forcing down a passenger jet and arresting an opposition blogger critical of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Lufthansa, KLM, SAS, Air France, LOT and Singapore Airlines were among carriers that stopped flying over Belarus along a major Europe-to-Asia corridor that generates hard currency payments to the Minsk government, $300 to $940 per flight. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline. Belgium's Charles Michel, who chairs European Union summits, called the flight bans, "Europe in action," tweeting a picture of a flight tracker map showing no planes flying over Belarus. Belarusian planes also faced a possible ban from flying to European Union cities, which could leave landlocked Belarus only able to reach its territory via its eastern border with its close ally Russia.