The Russian airline Aeroflot will hardly fly outside its own borders from Tuesday. Only flights within Russia and to Belarus will then continue. Other Russian airlines are taking similar steps.

With the move, Aeroflot complies with an order from the Russian aviation authorities.

It called on airlines that have leased aircraft from Western companies to no longer fly outside the national borders. This prevents those aircraft from being seized.

European Union sanctions require those aircraft to be returned to the leasing companies by March 28 at the latest. For those leasing companies, the chance that they will see their hundreds of Boeing and Airbus aircraft worth billions of euros again is becoming less and less.

For Russia, the decision also means that the country will become further cut off from the outside world. Russian planes were no longer welcome in the European Union because of the war started by Russia in Ukraine. Russian airlines were still able to fly to other countries such as China and Turkey. However, that option is now closed.

Currently, Russian airlines still operate numerous intercontinental flights to repatriate Russians stranded abroad. For example, flights from Aeroflot, Rossiya, Nordwind and Azur Air will take place on Saturday to countries such as the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba, the Maldives, the Seychelles and Egypt.

Only foreign airlines from countries that have not imposed sanctions against Russia will still provide international flights from Russia after Tuesday.
These include Turkish Airlines, Emirates and Qatar Airways.

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* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)