Germany, Italy and France join airspace ban on Russian aircraft

The country's passenger planes have to take increasingly circuitous routes to their destinations after Germany, Italy and France banned Russia's aircraft from their airspace.

The Italian prime minister's office said it had decided to close its airspace to Russian aircraft, the German transport ministry put in place similar restrictions for three months, and France's minister for transport announced a ban that would come.

The UK, Ireland, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have all announced similar closings following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The airspace of the Baltic states has already been closed to Russian planes, and on Sunday morning, Finland followed suit.

Russia usually gets the shortest flight to its Kaliningrad exclave fromLithuania, which is a small parcel of land next to the Baltic Sea.

More countries are expected to announce Russian air traffic restrictions in the coming days.

Before the German and Italian moves were announced, the route of flight SU2500 from Moscow to Madrid was already changed.

The flight tracker website showed that the plane flew from Russia to the Baltic Sea coast, crossing to Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and finally Spain.

The flight from Moscow to Athens took a similar route, skirting the coast of Italy before reaching the Greek capital. An aircraft could have flown over the Black Sea and Ukraine.

At a time when Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has pushed oil prices higher, the airspace closings have resulted in longer journeys for Russian jets, which use more fuel and cost more for airlines to operate. The situation will become more difficult for Russia now that Germany has closed its airspace.

All of the flights from Germany to Russia had been canceled by the German flag carrier.

Boris Johnson's decision to ban Aeroflot from landing in the UK caused Russia to ban all British aircraft from landing in the country.

The impact on flights between Russia and other countries around Europe is immediate, but the bigger issue is whether Russian airspace is closed off. It means more indirect routes and longer flights.

We don't know how long this will last for. Airline management teams will be thinking about contingency plans.

The measures come just as international air travel is beginning to return, although there are fewer passenger flights between Europe and Asia, as many countries, such as China and Japan, remain mostly closed to foreign visitors. The transport of cargo is expected to be affected by the route changes.

During the Gulf war and when the US airspace was closed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, there were many countries that banned another from their airspace.

In July of last year, international airlines avoided parts of Ukrainian airspace after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down, killing all 298 people on board. Moscow has denied any involvement in the downing of the Boeing plane, which international investigators say was brought down by a Russian-made missile.

Russia makes a lot of foreign exchange for overflight rights, the use of airspace and navigation, and it is.