International Military - It is now rumored that Russia and Britain have decided to close their airspace together. It is known that since the invasion of Ukraine, Britain has decided to ban all Russian airlines from their airspace.
Even quoted from the Aerotime page, the IAG airline group has announced that it will not use Russian airspace for flights. But it is known now, it turns out that Russia has also banned British aircraft from entering their airspace, as an attempt to retaliate.
This came into effect on the evening of Thursday, February 24, 2022, right after Russia announced that it would carry out a military operation into Ukraine.
That evening, Britain announced that it would impose a new set of sanctions against Russia following the invasion. In which all Russian airlines are prohibited from operating flights to the UK.
And related to this, IAG as the owner of British Airwas has taken the decision to avoid Russian airspace for flights on Asian routes.
"Following the UK government's decision to ban Aeroflot from landing in the UK, we have taken the decision not to use Russian airspace for overseas flights," he said. He also emphasized that the policy regarding this flight restriction would not have a big impact on his airline.
This is because they only fly to a small number of destinations in Asia, so they can easily change flight routes. In this regard, the UK Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, has also addressed the restrictions. He confirmed that he had signed the border barring all scheduled Russian airlines from entering British territory.
In fact, he has even explained that this also includes Russian airlines landing on British soil. Not only that, Grant Shapps also expressed his opinion on the behavior of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. "We will not ignore Putin's heinous actions, and we will never tolerate those who put people's lives at risk," he said.
In addition, on Friday, February 25, 2022, the Federal Agency for Air Transport, Russia's civil aviation regulator, issued an airspace restriction. In which he explained that all aircraft registered in the UK would be barred from entering Russian airspace.