Ukraine closes airspace as Russia invades

The State Enterprise of Air Traffic Services of Ukraine (UkSATSE) issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) closing the Ukrainian airspace to all civilian flights as of 0245L (0045Z) on February 24, 2022, due to the Russian and Belarusian invasion of the country.

“The provision of air traffic services to civilian users of the airspace of Ukraine is suspended,” UkSATSE said.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued an additional warning covering Belarusian and Russian airspace near the border with Ukraine.

“Operators should exercise extreme caution and avoid using the airspace within 100 nautical miles [185.2 kilometres] of the Belarusian and Russia-Ukraine border. […] In particular, there is a risk of both intentional targeting and misidentification of civil aircraft,” the European agency advised.

Later, the EASA extended its advisory to 200 nautical miles (370.4 kilometres) from Ukrainian borders in the Russian airspace.

For its part, Russia initially closed a number of air routes in the Rostov Flight Information Region (FIR), an area adjacent to eastern Ukraine, on February 22. It later issued an additional NOTAM, effective on February 24 at 0500Z, declaring the entire length of the airspace at the border with Ukraine (and extending into Ukraine, beyond the formal boundaries of Rostov FIR) a temporary danger zone off-limits to civilian operators.

The closure of Ukrainian airspace has forced all airlines to cancel all flights to the country. Previously, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and all Lufthansa Group carriers cancelled flights to Kyiv Boryspil and airports in central and eastern Ukraine, although Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines continued to serve Lviv in the west.

Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows that the last flight to land at Kyiv Boryspil was Bees Airline’ flight 7B922 from Sharjah, operated by a B737-900(ER) wet-leased from Ukraine International Airlines. UR-PSK (msn 36086) touched down at around 0320Z (0520L) on February 24.

ADS-B data indicates that there are at least 21 commercial aircraft grounded at Kyiv Boryspil, including the following aircraft:

Azur Air Ukraine: one B737-800, three B757-300s, three B767-300(ER)s, and one B777-300(ER),
Meridian: one An-12,
SkyUp Airlines: one B737-800,
Ukraine International Airlines: three E190s, three B737-800s, and one B737-900(ER), and
Windrose Airlines: two ATR72-600s and two A321-200s.
Moldova also closed its airspace at 1202L (1002Z) on February 24 due to security concerns emanating from neighbouring Ukraine. The closure of the airspace forced the suspension of all operations to and from Chisinau, the country’s only commercial airport.

After months of military buildup, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his decision to begin a “military operation” against Ukraine at around 0600L (0300Z) on February 24. Early reports indicate that the ground invasion was joined by Belarus with tanks filmed crossing the border into Ukraine from its northern neighbour.