What closing of European airspace over Ukraine war means

Russia on Monday retaliated against the sanctions imposed by western nations with an announcement to close its airspace to carriers from 36 nations. While Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civil flights since February 24.

Amid the sanctions war, Russia on Monday retaliated against western nations with an announcement to close its airspace to carriers from 36 nations, including European countries and Canada. Earlier, the European Union and Canada decided to close their skies for Russian airplanes of all kinds.

The decision by Russia’s state aviation agency is set to affect the global aviation industry even further. The airspace over Ukraine has been closed for civil flights since February 24.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several European countries began to impose restrictions over Russian planes, culminating into a collective decision by the EU to ban all Russian flights.

According to flight data aggregator Flightradar24.com, Russian Airlines such as Aeroflot had to cancel flights from London since the beginning of such restrictions. Other flights are being forced to take a longer route.

While Russian flights are being forced to cancel EU-based flights, the reverse effect is also visible on the European countries.

Due to reverse sanctions by Moscow, flights such as British Airways Delhi-London will have to travel through a longer distance. According to Flightradar24, the added flying distance for Delhi-London route would be 896 km, resulting into 1 hour of additional flying time. The new routes are also likely to contribute to increased airfares for passengers and cargo flights.

Germany's Lufthansa that cancelled 30 flights to Russia said its flights from Europe to East Asia would have to fly detours. Singapore Airlines also suspended all flights between Singapore and Moscow.