Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted several flights as global airlines bring to a halt their operations to the country. Most recently, Delta Air Lines announced it will stop codesharing with the Russian national airline Aeroflot, effective immediately. Both carriers are members of the SkyTeam alliance.
Delta removed its code from Aeroflot-operated flights beyond Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport and removed Aeroflot’s code from Delta-operated flights from Los Angeles and New York-JFK. Delta said accommodations will be made for customers affected by these changes. Delta does not fly to Ukraine or Russia.
Delta’s move comes after the U.K. banned Aeroflot from flying into its country. Russia retaliated by banning U.K. airlines from Russian airspace. Poland and the Czech Republic also closed their airspace to Russian planes, according to reports.
Aeroflot is one of the largest carrier operating the route, with 16 flights scheduled between London Heathrow and Moscow Sheremetyevo. British Airways were the other carrier flying between the countries, with eight scheduled flights linking London Heathrow and Moscow Domodedovo.
Virgin Atlantic and British Airways began routing flights around Russian airspace after London and Moscow banned each other’s airlines in tit-for-tat retaliation over the Ukraine invasion. Poland and the Czech Republic also said they were banning Russian airlines from their airspace.
Finnair too has suspended its flights over the Russian airspace for one week. This sees a cancellation of passenger and/or cargo flights to Seoul, Osaka, Tokyo, Shanghai and Guangzhou in Asia and to Moscow and St Petersburg in Russia until March 6. Flights to Hongkong were cancelled until the end of March already earlier.
Travel on some flights from the UAE has also been affected amid the ongoing situation in Ukraine, it was reported in The National newspaper. Emirates announced that it will reroute flights bound for Russia, US and Sweden. Partner airline flydubai also cancelled services from Dubai to Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don in Russia, and to Minsk in Belarus, amid the ongoing situation. Other services, including to the US and Sweden are also being affected because of the airspace closing in Ukraine and parts of Russia.
Dubai’s Emirates airline has rerouted several flights, including to Stockholm, Moscow, St Petersburg and some routes between Dubai and the US. Travelers set to fly with the airline have been advised to expect longer journey times on some flights. From Abu Dhabi, Etihad has also rerouted some flights, the national airline of the UAE said. Ukrainian airspace closed to civilian flights. Airspace over a section of Russia is also closed.
Cruise lines too are scrapping stops in Ukraine and Russia in light of the escalating conflict there. Viking River Cruises is canceling all 2022 departures of its Kyiv, Black Sea and Bucharest itinerary. The cruise line said guests and travel advisors with affected departures have been notified.
Scenic is canceling its entire slate of 2022 river cruises in Russia. Norwegian Cruise Line is cutting St. Petersburg from itineraries for the entirety of 2022. Atlas Ocean Voyages is tweaking the itineraries of two late-summer Baltic cruises to drop St. Petersburg, Russia.
The Hamburg-to-Kiel itinerary departing August 26 and the Kiel roundtrip itinerary departing September 7, both on the World Navigator, will call at Kotka and Mariehamn, Finland.
