Lufthansa Flight Turns Back Midair Over Russian Airspace

S7 and Aeroflot had to cancel services to all EU Airports as of today. The European Union is banning all Russian airlines from serving destinations in the EU and flying through its airspace. This was first reported by German public broadcaster ARD on Saturday evening.

At the same time, European airlines are stopping their flight connections to Russia for at least one week while also avoiding Russia’s airspace.

This will lead to significantly longer flights, specifically between Europe and East Asia.

On Saturday, several Lufthansa and KLM flights had already entered Russian airspace and turned around midair. “Lufthansa will not use Russian airspace for the next seven days due to the current and emerging regulatory situation. Flights to Russia will be suspended during this period.“, a Lufthansa spokesperson said.

The avoidance of Russian airspace will inevitably lead to significantly longer flight times on routes between Europe and East Asia.