EU and Canada impose blanket bans on Russian aircraft

The European Union (EU) has imposed a blanket ban on all Russian planes from flying in the trading bloc’s airspace, following the launch of an invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces on 24 February.

The move was announced on 27 February by European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, who said that the ban would apply to all ‘Russian-owned, Russian-registered or Russian-controlled aircraft’.

All aircraft that fall under this category are now banned from landing, taking off, or flying over any EU nation.

A ban had already been imposed by the governments of many European countries ahead of the formal blanket ban, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and the UK.

Ukraine also closed its airspace to all traffic on 24 February, following a notification from Russian air traffic control ahead of the invasion.

The Russian flight bans across Europe effectively close most of the continent off to Russian airlines, such as flag carrier Aeroflot, which said that it would cancel all flights to European destinations until further notice on Sunday.

Canada also bans Russian aircraft from its airspace

The Canadian government has also announced that it will ban Russian aircraft operators from 27 February, following an announcement by Transport Minister Omar Alghabra and Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In a statement, the government said that it ‘prohibits the operation in Canadian airspace of aircraft that are owned, chartered or operated by Russian interests, including in airspace above Canada's territorial waters.’

"Canada as a whole feels the same outrage at President Putin's aggression against Ukraine. In response to this, we closed Canadian airspace to aircraft owned or operated by Russian interests. The Government of Canada condemns Russia's aggressive actions and will continue to take steps to remain in solidarity with Ukraine,” said Alghabra.

The combined effect of flight bans in Europe and Canada has effectively created a ‘wall’ around Russia preventing aircraft from travelling west in any direction, including over much of the north Atlantic and over the Arctic Circle.

Following the introduction of Canadian airspace restrictions, Aeroflot announced that it would suspend flights to Mexico, the US, Cuba and the Dominican Republic until at least 2 March. This included flights to Cancun, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Washington DC, Havana, Varadero and Punta-Cana.