Ban on flights to Ukraine extended to all Russian airlines

The State Aviation Administration of Ukraine made a decision to completely terminate air communication between Ukraine and the Russian Federation from October 25, 2015

From October 25 Ukraine completely stops air communication with Russia, all the Russian airlines are now subject to ban on flights, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine said Monday.

"The State Aviation Administration of Ukraine made a decision to completely terminate air communication between Ukraine and the Russian Federation from October 25, 2015," the statement said.

The sanctions earlier did not affect the number of Russian airlines.

According to the Ministry’s statement, the decision was made due to "the Russian Federal Agency for Air transport" failing to provide a response explaining the reasons for restrictions for flights of the Ukrainian airlines."

According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, the measure will apply to all Russian airlines, and will run until the restrictions imposed by the aviation authorities of the Russian Federation on the Ukrainian airlines are lifted. After the ban on Ukrainian airline is lifted, Russian airlines that are not included in the sanctions list [for conduction flights to Crimea — TASS], will be able to fly to Ukraine.

As TASS reported earlier, about 20 Russian airlines fell under the sanctions of the Ukrainian authorities. According to the document posted on the website of the President of Ukraine, the Russian airlines are banned, partially or totally, from conducting flights, transport operations, transit flights in the territory of Ukraine. The list includes not only the largest Russian air carrier Aeroflot (flying to Kiev, Odessa, Kharkiv), but also three of his subsidiaries — airlines Rossiya, Donavia, and Orenburg Airlines. The route network of Orenburg Airlines includes more than 250 destinations of scheduled and charter flights. The list also includes Transaero airline that was recently transferred to the Aeroflot operational control. Transaero conducts flights to Kiev and Odessa.