Travel data and analytics expert Cirium has released detailed figures regarding scheduled flights from the UK and the EU to Moscow in June following speculations about a potential blanket travel ban and reports that Russia has refused to grant permission for two European carriers to land in Moscow.
Russia accuses the EU of risking passenger safety due to the European Union’s call to avoid Belarusian airspace. The EU has told EU airlines not to fly over Belarus and banned Belarusian airlines from European skies after a Ryanair aircraft was forced to land in Belarus on 23 May following a false bomb threat. A dissident journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend who were onboard were arrested.
According to Cirium, a total of 59 flights from the UK are scheduled to arrive in Moscow in June alone which accounts for more than 15,800 scheduled seats. This includes:
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- 30 flights and almost 9,800 seats by Russian flag carrier Aeroflot, from London Heathrow to Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO)
- 16 flights and more than 3,000 seats by British Airways, from London Heathrow to Moscow Domodedovo (DME)
- 13 flights and almost 3,000 seats by Wizz Air UK, from London Luton to Moscow Vnukovo (VKO).
A total of 1,333 flights from the European Union are scheduled to arrive in Moscow in June alone, accounting for more than 237,000 scheduled seats. This includes:
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- 736 flights and approx. 134,000 seats by Aeroflot
- 100 flights and approx. 18,000 seats by S7 Airlines
- 78 flights and approx. 15,000 seats by Pobeda.
Cirium says that 25 EU countries have direct flights to Moscow scheduled in June. The countries include France, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Belgium, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Denmark, Ireland, Croatia, Finland, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Portugal, Slovenia, Malta, Latvia, Sweden and Poland.
On 24 May, Travel Radar Editor Callum Tennant reported that Ryanair was still continuing to fly through Belarusian airspace. Data from Flightradar24 showed that a Ryanair plane spent around 40 minutes in Belarusian airspace that morning despite the incident on the previous day.
