Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, carriers from Europe, Canada and North America have been circling the country, making long stretches to avoid flying in its airspace. Now, the CEO worries that the added miles will be a disadvantage for Asian carriers that still use Russia for long-haul flights.
“If you have a Chinese carrier flying through Russia, they have an unfair advantage over us,” said Ben Smith, CEO of Air France-KLM, Financial Times on Friday. Smith complained that passing through Russian airspace added “three hours of flight time” to planes traveling from Paris to Seoul.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine, airlines often flew through Russia to connect Asia with destinations in Europe or North America. But Russia blocked many Western airlines from using its airspace last February, in retaliation for governments in Europe and North America banning Russian airlines from flying west.
European, Canadian and US airlines were forced to fly different routes to avoid Russia. Longer flights burn more fuel, which means higher costs and emissions. Longer flights can also change the tight flight schedule, as well as violate working hours restrictions for flight crew.
But carriers from several non-Western countries, including China, continue to fly through Russian airspace, allowing them to offer faster and cheaper flights to European and North American destinations.
European airlines are now worried about missing out on China’s rebounding wave, as Beijing reopens from years of COVID-era isolation. (China’s tourism slumped after the country required all international arrivals — including returning Chinese tourists — to spend weeks in quarantine.)
“It is very difficult to make secondary cities in China profitable in terms of aviation,” Topi Manner, CEO of Finnair, told Financial Times last week. The closure of Russian airspace has hit Finnair, undermining the airline’s efforts to turn Helsinki into a hub for flights connecting northern Asia with Europe.
The European Union says it is powerless to resolve the discrepancy. “There are no measures that can be taken,” said Henrik Hololei, director general of the European Commission for transport and mobility, at a conference in mid-January.
Detours have forced airlines to postpone, or even cancel routes permanently. Last year, Virgin Atlantic blamed the closure of Russian airspace for its decision to close operations in Hong Kong.
Polar route
Chinese airlines are not the only ones still using Russian airspace. Air India, for example, flies through Russia for direct flights from India to the United States. Middle Eastern airlines, like Emirates, also continue to fly through Russia on North American routes. Some of these carriers also serve Russian destinations.
Some Asian airlines, such as Korean Air or Japan Airlines, stopped flying through Russia even though it was not explicitly prohibited. Detours mean that the airline faces the same weight and flight time issues as its Western counterparts. In October, an Asiana Airlines flight from New York to Seoul had to stop in Tokyo to avoid violating the maximum flight hours for the crew.
The added complexity of avoiding Russia has prompted one Asian airline to start flying to the country again. After avoiding the country, Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s main airline, resumed using Russian airspace in November.
The airline said the polar route, which flies through Siberia and the Arctic, is the “safest, most direct and fastest experience” for those flying between Hong Kong and the U.S. The Hong Kong airline is the first to use Russian airspace to fly. between Asia and North America, first flying the polar route in 1998.
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