Where Russia Is Banned From Flying—And Who It’s Banned in Retaliation

Published: March 1, 2022, 10:30 AM EST | Updated: March 2, 2022, 12:00 AM EST

Flight bans placed on Russian aircraft and Russia’s retaliatory measures have upended global travel routes amid the intensifying war in Ukraine.

The United States on Tuesday joined the growing list of countries closing its airspace to Russia, as part of a slate of punitive measures aimed at President Vladimir Putin since he ordered his troops to invade neighboring Ukraine.

Canada, the European Union and several other European nations, including Switzerland, are barring any plane owned, chartered or otherwise controlled by a Russian person from entering their airspace.

The Kremlin retaliated with sweeping bans on all EU countries, and others such as the U.K., Canada and Switzerland, which had also restricted Russia from their airspace.

Many of the fastest routes that traverse the northern hemisphere cross through Russian, European or Canadian airspace. The rerouted paths will be the norm after the retaliation from Russia, squeezing struggling airlines even further.

If the situation isn’t resolved relatively quickly, and Russian international traffic is effectively reduced to zero while its domestic travel suffers due to a lack of aircraft, inflation, and shortages due to sanctions, the combination could delay the global aviation recovery by at least two months, said Stuart Hatcher, chief revenue officer of aviation consultancy IBA. The group hasn’t modeled past that point, he said.

Note: List of flights shown in the map is not exhaustive.

Source: Flightradar24

The skies over Ukraine remain closed to all air traffic since the invasion began on Feb. 24th. Many commercial airlines have avoided flying over eastern Ukraine since Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was downed over the Russian separatist-backed region in 2014.

Where Russia Is Banned From Flying—And Who It’s Banned in Retaliation

Countries that have banned Russia from flying over their airspace

Countries banned from flying over Russian airspace

Rerouted flights from U.S., Canadian and European airlines

Ukrainian airspace clears amidst Russian attacks