Civil aviation industry at risk

The Russia-Ukraine war means fewer flights to Asia and higher ticket prices. Airlines have been forced to reroute their flights, particularly those operating between Europe and Asia over the past couple of months in order to avoid the closed Russian airspace, resulting in fewer flights offered, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Besides potentially operating some of the longest flights ever, airlines like Finnair have slashed their number of flights to destinations in Asia — like Japan — from up to 40 weekly flights to 10 destinations, down to seven flights to only one destination.

“If this continues into the winter, flights will be longer and, on some occasions, might have to make a technical stop,” one industry analyst tells WSJ. Scheduling conflicts, rising fuel costs, and longer flights will also mean higher ticket prices, analysts predict.

How’s this for a flight map? A Russian plane had to make a 15k km detour this week to pick up diplomatic staff that were expelled from Spain and Greece, flying up to the Arctic Circle, across North Africa and over the Caucasus. This was almost as long as the world’s longest flight between New York and Singapore.

The most immediate effect is on travelers to and from Russia. Many flights are canceled, and some have been forced to turn around. One Aeroflot flight was nearing Canada airspace when the ban was announced and had to return to Russia.

More consequences of the closing of airspace are the necessity to reroute some flights, adding flight time and increasing fuel costs.

Flights, for example, from London to Asia now fly much further south to avoid Russian airspace. Polar flights from the U.S. to Asia can no longer use Russia as alternate airports. Should an emergency such as engine failure occur, no Russian airport can be a diversion airport.

All of us hope the conflict in Ukraine will end quickly and peacefully. Until then, travelers need to factor the fighting there into their planning. But know that the airlines are doing all they can to maintain our very high level of safety during this challenging time.