Airlines Flying Around Belarus Face Delays, Higher Fuel Burn
- Carriers are avoiding the country after Ryanair interception
- Belarus is popular fly-over zone after jets avoided Ukraine
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Belarus may have become increasingly isolated with every year that dictator Alexander Lukashenko clings to power. But the country has remained an important fly-over territory for airliners, particularly since parts of neighboring Ukraine were deemed unsafe to traverse in the wake of the 2014 downing of a Malaysian Airlines aircraft.
About 400 flights a day use Belarus airspace, including about 300 that pass over without landing, according to Eurocontrol, which is responsible for managing Europe’s airspace. Now European airlines have begun skirting around Belarus at the directive of European Union leaders.