Russian airlines resume flights to Du…

On Wednesday there was some unrest in European airspace. Moscow had not authorized flights from the German Lufthansa, to which Berlin responded by suspending Russian flights. By evening the situation had cleared up again.

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The Russian aviation authority had “failed to grant permission in time” to two Lufthansa flights scheduled for Wednesday morning, forcing them to be canceled on Tuesday evening, the German Transport Ministry reported in a press release. Germany therefore decided in turn not to grant permission for flights operated by Russian airlines. Aeroflot and S7 flights were cancelled.

On Wednesday evening, the Russian state news agencies reported Tass and the German news agency DPA that flights between the two countries will resume.

Previously, several airlines had reported that Russia did not authorize flights that avoid the airspace of ally Belarus. Last week, two flights from Air France and one from Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines were canceled for this reason.

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Arrest dissident

Major European airlines are avoiding the airspace of the former Soviet republic after the arrest of dissident Roman Protasevich in Belarus. He was en route from Greece to Lithuania on a Ryanair flight, but the Belarusian authorities had his flight diverted to Minsk, officially because of a bomb threat. Protasevich was arrested immediately after landing.

A Kremlin spokesman said Air France’s flight cancellations were related to “technical issues”. Flights between Europe and Russia “are allowed to follow specific routes,” clarified Eurocontrol, the European air traffic controller. ‘If a company wants to change trajectory, there must be a prior agreement between the company concerned and Russia.’

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