United Kingdom bans Russia-registered and operated aircraft
The United Kingdom has banned all scheduled services operated by aircraft owned, operated, leased, or registered in Russia in its airspace as of 0001L (0001Z) on February 25, 2022.
The move is part of an extensive package of sanctions on Russia announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
According to a NOTAM, the ban is in place through May 23, 2022, although the duration can easily be modified and/or extended. It covers the airspace over the United Kingdom and its territorial sea but excludes North Atlantic routes controlled by British air traffic centres at Swanwick and Prestwick.
The ch-aviation schedules module shows the only Russian airline plying scheduled routes to the United Kingdom is Aeroflot (SU, Moscow Sheremetyevo), which flies daily between Moscow Sheremetyevo and London Heathrow. The flight on February 24 departed from Heathrow on schedule before the NOTAM was issued, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.
The same package of sanctions covers state-owned industrial conglomerate Rostec and its subsidiary UAC United Aircraft Corporation (Zhukovsky), as well as UAC’s director general, Yury Slyusar. UAC’s subsidiaries, such as Irkut (Irkutsk Northwest), are not included. The UK has also frozen the assets of ten major Russian banks, including VTB Bank, and around 100 other individuals and companies. It has also suspended the granting of export licences to British companies to sell their products in Russia, affecting, among many others, Rolls-Royce. Downing Street also intends to introduce legislation to prevent Russian oligarchs and their associated companies from raising finances in the United Kingdom in the coming days.
In response to the British decision, the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) sent a notice to the UK demanding that the provisions of the bilateral air services agreement between the countries be respected. It warned that if London does not restore access to the British airspace to carriers authorised under the agreement, Russia could respond with “mirror measures”. Most flights between Europe and North-East Asia, including most destinations in China, Japan, and South Korea, operate through the Siberian airspace controlled by Russia.