Japanese airlines avoid Russian airspace in connection to Europe

Tokyo, March 4 (EFE).- Japanese airlines began Friday to divert their connecting flights with Europe through the routes of Alaska or Central Asia, avoiding Russian airspace due to concerns about the invasion of Ukraine.

apan Airlines (JAL) and ANA Holdings have been affected on the trans-Siberian route, as have many airlines in Europe that use Russian airspace for connections with Asia, due to the Russian invasion and the crisis in Ukraine.

JAL and ANA canceled connections between Europe and Japan on Thursday and rescheduled some of their Friday flights through Central Asia and Alaska, the latter an old route that, for decades and until the fall of the Soviet Union, was the main one.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, European countries announced the closure of their airspace to Russia as a sanctioning measure to isolate the country and, in response, Russia did the same with each country.

At the moment, Japan has not announced a ban on Russia from using its airspace, nor vice versa, although JAL canceled all its flights Thursday to Moscow.

The connection between Europe and Japan by other means means an increase in flight hours and, therefore, a higher cost in fuel, at a time Japanese airlines are trying to recover from the impact that the pandemic has had on their operations and the border closure of the archipelago. EFE

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