Russian Airlines Face Repossession Of Half Their Planes, As Aeroflot Flight Ignores Airspace Ban

The New York flight turned around midflight. It is difficult for Russian aircraft to get to the U.S. without flying over EU and Canadian airspace. They flew for 8 hours and ended up where they started.

Aeroflot from Miami to Moscow violated airspace restrictions. They are accused of lying about the flight being a humanitarian flight.

A spokesperson for Canada's transport ministers says Aeroflot 111 shouldn't have been allowed to pass through its airspace. "This evening, NAV Canada mistakenly permitted a banned aircraft into Canadian airspace. This shouldn’t have happened."

— Aly Sider (@alyrose) February 28, 2022

(2/2) We are launching a review of the conduct of Aeroflot and the independent air navigation service provider, NAVCAN, leading up to this violation. We will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action and other measures to prevent future violations.

— Transport Canada (@Transport_gc) February 28, 2022

Russian airlines have to recall leased aircraft under EU sanctions. The planes can't be insured and parts can't be supplied. This is more than half of the aircraft in Russia. It would be difficult to make the March lease payment because of the blocked SWIFT connection. The low cost carrier Pobeda has already had a plane.

If Russian carriers want to lease planes in the future, they will need to comply.

There is an interesting thread on why Russia is not performing as expected, and an argument that Ukraine needs to hold on to, even if Kiev falls. The underlying arguments about what has happened to far and why may be correct seem slightly more optimistic than justified.

Why Russia will lose this war?

Much of the "realist" discourse is about accepting Putin's victory, cuz it's *guaranteed*. But how do we know it is?

I'll argue that analysts 1) overrate Russian army 2) underrate Ukrainian one 3) misunderstand Russian strategy & political goals pic.twitter.com/pXpfIcq3Zs

— Kamil Galeev (@kamilkazani) February 27, 2022

This isn't limited to Aeroflot. It applies to all Russian airlines. Germany is sending weapons to Ukraine. What can Americans do?

In destinations.

I do my best to identify ways that Delta Skymiles can be used as productive as possible despite my many disagreements with the program. Skymiles can only be used for one-way awards if you pay the roundtrip price.

In general.

Air Serbia is replacing its lone 13 year old long haul A330 aircraft with a new one that is 12 years old and has a new tail. The airline uses this aircraft to fly to New York JFK.

In airlines.