Aeroflot suspends all international flights, except to Belarus
The Russian airline Aeroflot announced on Saturday 5 March the suspension of its international flights from 8 March, after Russia was hit hard by Western sanctions in connection with Ukraine. The decision, which will take effect at midnight (21:00 GMT Monday), is due to new “circumstances hampering the operation of flights“, the company said in a statement, adding that domestic routes and connections with Belarus, one of the rare countries supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, would be maintained. Aeroflot’s subsidiaries Aurora and Rossiya will also stop flying abroad.
The Russian aviation agency Rossaviatsia indicated that it had “recommended” to the Russian companies operating rental planes registered outside the country to stop flights abroad in order to avoid the seizure of the aircraft. Flights to foreign countries must cease at 21:00 GMT on Saturday, and those from abroad on Monday at 21:00 GMT, specifies Rossaviatsia.
The West has imposed drastic sanctions in the air transport sector, closing airspace to Russian planes and stopping the supply of spare parts in particular from Boeing and Airbus, in the wake of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Russian airlines risk having some of their planes repossessed: three-quarters of them belong to lessors, nearly half of them being European leasing companies.
The Russian company S7, the second in the country, announced on Friday that it would also cease all flights abroad.
