Russia’s state airline, Aeroflot, said on Saturday that it would suspend all international flights from Tuesday “due to additional circumstances that prevent the performance of flights.” The cancellation will also apply to its subsidiaries Aurora and Rossiya, the airline said, though Aeroflot said it would continue to fly to Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Russia had been enjoying a rare and robust aviation recovery as the only global market where domestic air traffic last year exceeded that of 2019, according to the IATA, a global trade group. But the airline industry there has been hit hard in the last two weeks, as countries around the world have imposed flight bans and sanctions on Russia because of President Vladimir V. Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. Mr. Putin and President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus are allies, and Russian forces have attacked Ukraine from Belarus. Separately, Russia’s aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, recommended on Saturday that Russian airlines with planes registered in foreign jurisdictions suspend all flights abroad from Sunday because of fears that they could be seized by foreign governments. The suspension effectively leaves a handful of Western companies with no way of recovering hundreds of planes leased to Russian carriers. Recent sanctions gave those leasing companies until March 28 to end their contracts with airlines in Russia. With dozens of Western countries and Russia having issued reciprocal flight bans, the only hope those companies had for recovering their planes would have been to have Russian airlines deliver them to a neutral country, experts said. Saturday’s ban appeared to dash those hopes.<br/>
sky
Korean Air Lines said Friday it plans to cancel four passenger flights to and from Moscow for the next two weeks, adding that the airline could not refuel its planes in Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The South Korean carrier said it also plans to reroute cargo flights that originally passed through Moscow, sending them instead directly from Incheon, South Korea, to destinations in Europe without making stops in Russia until March 18. “We were informed by a Russia-based refueling service provider this afternoon that we can no longer refuel our planes at the airport in Moscow,” an official at Korean Air said, adding that refueling firms might be having difficulty sourcing jet fuel due to sanctions against Russia. Korean Air, which normally uses Russian airspace for its Europe flights, joins a growing number of carriers that have cancelled or rerouted flights between Europe and north Asia in the wake of the crisis. Korean Air said it will continue monitoring developments in Russia and make further plans. <br/>