Global carriers adjust networks amid Russo-Ukrainian war

JAL – Japan Airlines (JL, Tokyo Haneda) and ANA – All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) have both cancelled all of their planned flights to Europe on March 3 due to safety risks associated with overflying Russian airspace.

Both airlines said that they would cancel or reroute future flights as they continue to monitor the impact of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and its implications for the safety and regulatory environment.

The ch-aviation schedules module shows that ANA operates scheduled services to Frankfurt Int’l, London Heathrow, and Paris CDG from Tokyo Haneda, and to Brussels National and Frankfurt (as cargo-only) from Tokyo Narita. In turn, JAL flies from Haneda to Helsinki Vantaa, London Heathrow, Moscow Sheremetyevo, and Paris CDG, and from Narita to Frankfurt. All of these flights cross Russian airspace on their normal routings.

Finnair (AY, Helsinki Vantaa), which recently said that it was suspending services to China, Japan, and South Korea due to the challenges posed by the need to bypass Russia, said it would restart flights to Tokyo Narita but would avoid Russian airspace.

In turn, Lithuanian ACMI/charter specialist GetJet Airlines (GW, Vilnius) has been forced to cancel services out of Riga, Tallinn Lennart Meri, and Vilnius to Egyptian leisure resorts Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh. Even though these flights could easily be run without touching Russian airspace, they were operated on behalf of TT Baltics, a local franchisee of TUI Group. The company, which is incorporated in Latvia, is now subject to invasion-related European Union sanctions. The Lithuanian company register shows that TT Baltics is owned by Russia’s KN-Holding LLC, which is reportedly linked to Alexei Mordashov. Mordashov, allegedly Russia’s wealthiest oligarch, also controls a 34% stake in TUI Group and has been sanctioned due to his alleged involvement in financing Russia’s elites.