Two airlines cancel Moscow flights as EU discusses Belarus sanctions

Two European airlines had to cancel flights to Moscow after Russian authorities failed to approve new routes that avoided Belarus’s airspace in response to Minsk’s interception of a passenger jet.

Air France and Austrian Airlines sought to reroute flights that would normally fly over Belarus when EU governments demanded their airlines avoid the country’s airspace. The EU was acting in response to the interception of Ryanair flight 4978 by Belarusian authorities on Sunday in order to detain an opposition activist.

Air France and Austrian Airlines said Russian aviation authorities had not approved the new routes, leading to the cancellation of a flight from Paris to Moscow on Wednesday, and from Vienna to Moscow on Thursday. An Air France flight to Russia on Friday was still awaiting permission to use a new route avoiding Belarus.

“The Russian reaction is absolutely incomprehensible to us,” Austria’s foreign ministry was quoted as saying by Reuters on Thursday.

Several other European carriers, including KLM and a British Airways cargo flight, have been allowed to land in Russia using new routes, however. The Kremlin did not comment and referred inquiries to aviation authorities.

Airline industry insiders have grown concerned about the politicisation of airspace after the Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was forced to land in Minsk because of an alleged bomb threat. Two of the 126 passengers, anti-regime activist Roman Protasevich and his Russian partner, were arrested after the plane landed. Three other passengers stayed behind in Minsk.

However, the supposed bomb threat cited by Belarusian authorities was sent in an email after the plane was diverted, according to email provider Proton Technologies. “We cannot access or verify the contents of the message. However . . . we can confirm that the message in question was sent after the plane was redirected,” the company said.

Ryanair has labelled the forced landing an act of “aviation piracy”, and the UK and EU have urged their airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace, banned the state-owned carrier from their airports, and vowed to impose fresh economic sanctions on the regime. The US has requested the immediate release of Protasevich and his partner.

Russia has stood out by supporting Minsk, calling the EU’s reaction “hysteric”. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and Belarus’s leader Alexander Lukashenko are due to meet on Friday in Russia.

Willie Walsh, head of the International Air Transport Association, has said it is “disturbing” to see a commercial flight diverted “for clearly bogus reasons”.

“I would like to think this does not set a precedent. It’s important we build on public and united condemnation . . . to ensure we don’t see a repeat of this behaviour,” he told a media conference on Wednesday.

While avoiding Belarusian airspace adds miles and fuel costs to some journeys heading east out of Europe, airlines have complied. However, any problems with Russia would be more damaging, given its size.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN forum that sets standards for civil aviation worldwide, late on Thursday announced an investigation into the Ryanair incident, and whether Belarus’s actions had broken international aviation law.

Salvatore Sciacchitano, ICAO council president, said: “The council has decided that all relevant facts should be officially established through an ICAO investigation conducted by the ICAO secretariat.”

Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers held initial talks on Thursday on punitive measures against Belarus’s regime, with the country’s lucrative potash sector high on the agenda.

The European bloc will target economic structures and financial transactions in Belarus “significantly”, Heiko Maas, Germany’s foreign minister, told reporters ahead of the informal gathering in Lisbon.

“The hijacking of the plane and the detention of the two passengers is completely unacceptable, and we will start discussing implementation of the sectoral and economic sanctions,” said Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief.

Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s foreign minister, said potash — a crucial ingredient in fertilisers — was the “keyword” because Belarus is one of the biggest global suppliers. “I think it would hurt Lukashenko very much if we managed something in this area,” he said.

Member states are aiming to pass the new measures at a meeting of foreign ministers on June 21, say diplomats.

Additional reporting by Max Seddon in Moscow