US to close airspace to Russian aircraft
It follows similar decisions by the UK, European Union and Canada in response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces on 24 February
The US government has announced that it will close its airspace to all Russian aircraft, following similar moves by the UK, European Union (EU) and Canada.
The ban is being enacted in response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which began on 24 February 2022. Federal officials said the ban will be effective from the end of Wednesday 2 March.
US President Joe Biden confirmed the decision during his State of the Union address on Tuesday 1 March, when he declared: “Tonight, I am announcing that we will join our allies in closing off American airspace to all Russian flights, further isolating Russia and adding an additional squeeze on their economy.”
It follows reports that EU officials were speaking with their US counterparts about what measures they were considering adopting in response to the Ukraine crisis.
Reciprocating the recent flight bans, Russia has closed its airspace to European airlines, effectively blocking some routes to Asia and potentially extending the flight times for others.
Flight bans are expected to cause disruption to international flight routes
The new geopolitical restrictions on airline flightpaths have the potential to cause further disruption to international travel at a time when the airline industry is attempting to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Flights between Asia and Europe in particular are expected to experience significant difficulties. According to a recent report by CNN, services between London and Tokyo, which typically take around 11 or 12 hours when overflying Russia, could be extended by approximately two or three hours if they are routed to the south to avoid Russia.
Recent projections by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which did not take into account the Ukraine war, had forecast that it would already take at least a further two years for global passenger flights to return to pre-Covid levels.
The flight bans are part of a number of measures that are expected to cause significant strain to the Russian aviation industry. Boeing announced on Tuesday 1 March that it was suspending the provision of parts, maintenance and technical services to Russian airlines, and suspending most operations at its Moscow engineering centre.