3.1.22
The U.S. is closing its airspace to Russian operators, following suit after a slew of allies did the same in the past three days. Russia is expected to respond in kind, banning U.S. operators from its massive airspace, just as it has done for the more than 35 countries, including the entire European Union and Canada, that have already banned Russian operators. No U.S. passenger airline currently flies to Russia, but the closure of Russian airspace will affect flights that have historically flown over the nation on routes between Asia and North America. Already, United Airlines announced earlier Tuesday that it would end its use of Russian airspace, becoming the last U.S. passenger carrier to end its Russian overflights. United is suspending two routes to India as a result of this action. “This won’t affect much beyond cargo flights by Russian carriers, but a (likely) reciprocal ban will affect about 300 flights per month (nearly all cargo) and most of those can take a slightly longer routing to avoid eastern Russian airspace,” tweeted Ian Petchenik, a spokesman for popular flight-tracking site Flightradar24.com.
