Russian airspace closure presents congestion and China competition pressure: Eurocontrol

Eurocontrol director general Eamonn Brennan has flagged congestion and competitive distortion issues that the long-term closure of Russian airspace creates, in addition to the routes directly impacted by the ongoing restrictions. Most European airlines have pulled their flights to Russia since its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, while those with networks heavily reliant on overflying Russian airspace have had to pivot operations elsewhere. While Finnair, which had built much of its network strategy on serving as a connecting point between Europe and Asia-Pacific, is the most obvious example, the airspace restrictions continue to impact wider European airline long-haul networks. Virgin Atlantic cited “operational complexities” stemming from the airspace closure in its decision not to restore its London-Hong Kong service. Speaking 4 October, Brennan highlighted fight data for the key June-September period which showed a strong recovery in activity despite the restrictions. “We got to 87% of 2019 [flights] over the summer and what’s depressing [these figures] is obviously the long-haul,” says Brennan. Notably Europe-Asia-Pacific is lagging, which also relects continued strict Covid restrictions in China alongside the airspace issue. Eurocontrol data for the week ending 2 October shows flight activity in this segment still 29% below the same week in 2019. By contrast, transatlantic flight activity is within 4% of pre-pandemic levels. Brennan notes that the closure of the Russian airspace means ”everybody is moving south”, which in turn creates additional congestion in the rest of European airspace.<br/>