Russia Bans U.K. Flights

Rosaviatsiya, Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport, banned all flights by aircraft registered in the U.K. or owned, leased or operated by any person associated with the U.K. from its…

Rosaviatsiya, Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport, banned all flights by aircraft registered in the U.K. or owned, leased or operated by any person associated with the U.K. from its airspace on Friday. The agency emphasized that the ban includes both flights to any point in Russian territory and any transit flights through Russian airspace. The move follows the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority’s suspension of the foreign carrier permit held by Russia’s Aeroflot Airlines on Thursday.

“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,” Rosaviatsiya said in its announcement [trans.].

The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority suspended Aeroflot’s permit in the wake of a large-scale Russian attack on Ukraine, which began early Thursday morning. According to Rosaviatsiya, it sent a proposal for a consultation to “discuss the issue of flights between the two countries” to the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority, but received a negative response. As previously reported by AVweb, Thursday’s hostilities led to the closure of airspace over Ukraine and Moldova, along with parts of Russia and Belarus.

Kate O’Connor works as AVweb's Editor-in-Chief. She is a private pilot, certificated aircraft dispatcher, and graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.