Russia has banned British flights from landing at its airports and from crossing its airspace after the United Kingdom closed its airspace to Russian airlines, including Aeroflot.
Prime minister Boris Johnson confirmed that the UK has banned all aircraft on a scheduled service which is, “owned, chartered or operated by a person connected with Russia, or which is registered in Russia” from entering UK airspace on Thursday.
The move came as part of Johnson’s “largest-ever” package of sanctions against Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport of the UK, said on Twitter after the announcement that all Russian airlines schedules to enter the UK would be prohibited, adding that “Putin’s heinous actions will not be ignored” and that the UK government “will never tolerate those who put people’s lives in danger.”
In a statement, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed that it has suspended Aeroflot’s foreign carrier permit until further notice.
“This means that Aeroflot will not be permitted to operate flights to or from the United Kingdom until further notice,” the statement reads.
In response to the move by the UK, Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, said that it has banned all flights by UK airlines to the country, as well as transit flights, starting from Friday.
“This measure was taken in accordance with the provisions of the Intergovernmental Air Services Agreement between Russia and the UK as a response to unfriendly decisions by the UK aviation authorities regarding the restriction on regular flights of aircraft owned, leased or operated by a person associated with Russia or registered in Russia,” Rosaviatsiya said.
“Yesterday, in accordance with the norms of international law, in order to discuss the issue of flights between the two countries, a proposal was sent to the British Aviation Authorities to hold consultations. This morning, a negative response was received from colleagues in the UK.”
“This is the basis for the adoption by the Russian side of mirror measures in accordance with the provisions of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Air Services between Russia and the UK in order to comply with the principle of parity and equal rights for airlines,” the civil aviation authority said.
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