Belarusian national airline banned from flying to Finland

• Finland bans Belavia airline from its airspace
• Permit for flights of state-owned Belarusian Belavia to Finland revoked
• These measures followed the hijacking of the Ryanair’s passenger jet by Belarus on May 23

Finnish transport and communications agency (Traficom) announced today that is had revoked Belarusian Belavia airline’s permit for flights to Finland.

“Traficom canceled the permit for flights of state-owned Belarusian company Belavia to Finland,” the regulator said.

According to Finland’s regulator, such decision was made based on the Traficom’s assessment that “Belarus cannot support air traffic and passenger safety in its [air] space”.

The European Union summit held on Monday announced the ban on flights of Belarusian air carriers to EU airports and over the EU airspace and advised all European carriers to refrain from flights in Belarusian airspace. These measures followed the hijacking of the Ryanair passenger jet by Belarus on May 23.