New Belgian airline going belly-up without flights permission over Russia

Belgium's new Air Belgium start-up airline, whose flights destinations are mainly in China, is facing difficulties due to the absence of authorisation to conduct flights over Russian territory resulting in the repeated postponement of its inaugural flight, which is now set to take place June 3. In April, the airline started to sell tickets for its flights without an overflight permit from the Russian authorities. For its routes from Charleroi Airport to Hong Kong, Air Belgium must fly over the territory of 9 countries, including over the territory of Russia, which has not given its green light. Circumventing flying over the Russian territory would take at least an hour and a half more, which makes such flights impossible. Apart from the absence of the overflight permission from Russia, the company is also facing operational and financial difficulties. <br/>