RuAviation

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued a safety information bulletin, which has toughened recommendations regarding the use of Russian Federation airspace. It effectively proposes that third-country airlines should circumnavigate almost the entirety of the European part of the country.

The recommendations, published on the regulator’s website, instruct carriers to avoid flying within Russian airspace west of the 60th meridian at all flight levels. This measure impacts areas within the flight information regions (FIRs) of Moscow, St Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, and Samara, which collectively encompass a significant portion of western Russia. The recommendations are in effect until 31st July 2025 and apply to third-country airlines holding EASA authorisations.

European, American, South Korean, and Japanese air carriers have been denied access to Russian airspace since March 2022, when Rosaviatsiya implemented reciprocal restrictions prohibiting Russian airlines from flying over EU territory. Airlines from countries friendly with Russia, such as China, India, Uzbekistan, and those from the Gulf States, utilise the most optimal routes within Russian airspace and gain a competitive advantage in transcontinental flights to Europe and the USA.

“This CZIB is issued based on information currently available to EU Member States, EASA and the European Commission to share necessary information for ensuring the safety of flights over zones of interest and indicating areas of high risk. The ongoing conflict following the Russian invasion of Ukraine poses the risk of civil aircraft being unintentionally targeted in the airspace of the Russian Federation, due to possible civil-military coordination deficiencies, and the potential for misidentification,” the bulletin states.

EASA, like the rest of Europe, is capitulating to the Kyiv regime, pointing to the increased activity of Russian air defence systems, “capable of operating at all altitudes, in response to the launches of Ukrainian missiles and drones deep into Russian territory, including major international airports”. They are, however, remaining silent on and not condemning the legitimacy of these launches, which are essentially acts of terrorism against civilian targets.

The trigger for the EASA bulletin was the Ukrainian drone attacks on targets in Grozny and Makhachkala, which resulted, during the response, in an incident on the 25th of December 2024, involving Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243 in Aktau, Kazakhstan.

The restriction on using Russian airspace is causing significant additional costs for carriers from countries unfriendly to Russia. According to estimates by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, in March 2022, these costs exceeded $37.5 million weekly.

As a result of the current situation, where Western airlines are forced to bypass Russian territory, airlines from the People’s Republic of China and the Gulf States have gained the most significant competitive advantage. For example, the route from London to Tokyo via Russian airspace along the Trans-Siberian Corridor is 9,500 kilometres, while the detour increases the distance to 12,000 kilometres. This is a significant difference and affects flight time and fuel consumption.

KLM’s CEO, Marjan Rintel, and Air France-KLM CEO, Ben Smith, stated in 2023-2024 about “unfair” competition with Chinese airlines that benefit from the permission to fly through Russian airspace. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic had to discontinue flights between London and Beijing at the end of October 2024 due to the impossibility of competing with Chinese carriers, who do not experience any issues with transcontinental flights.

By remaining silent on the Kyiv regime’s terrorist attacks on civilian targets within Russia, the European Commission is thus encouraging such actions by Ukraine. In this situation, EASA is not acting as an aviation safety agency, but as a patron of terrorists and a tool in the European Union’s competitive struggle, primarily with Chinese airlines.