Several European countries have closed their airspace to Russian flights, as Moscow faces mounting pressure due to the invasion of Ukraine.
Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia and Romania announced on Saturday that they had decided to ban some flights from Russia.
Russia said earlier that it would close its airspace to flights from Bulgaria, Poland and the Czech Republic following these countries imposed a ban on Russian planes.
Meanwhile, Russian-owned aircraft can no longer enter British airspace.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaia Kallas urged other EU countries to impose similar restrictions, adding on Twitter: “The aggressor’s planes have no place in democratic airspace.”
Referring to Kallas’ tweet, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said “Slovenia will do the same.”
“Latvia will close its airspace to commercial flights of airlines registered in Russia,” Latvian Transport Minister Thales Linkites also said on Twitter, adding that the decision would be formally adopted at the next cabinet meeting.
Because of restrictions on Russian flights, which cover large swathes of Eastern Europe, Russian airlines will have to take indirect routes.
On Saturday, an Aeroflot Russian airliner flight from Moscow to Budapest took 75 minutes longer than usual, according to Flightradar24, as it took a route that avoided Poland.
Commercial airlines are also avoiding airspace around Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, following the Russian invasion.
In the United States, Delta Air Lines said it would suspend a cooperative agreement with Russia’s Aeroflot.
Britain’s ban on Russian flights, including Aeroflot and private jets, led to Moscow retaliating with similar restrictions on British aircraft.
Virgin Atlantic, a British private airline, said avoiding Russia’s airspace would add between 15 minutes and an hour to its flights between Britain and both India and Pakistan.
