Sanctions on Russia: impacts in the aviation sector

Last updated: 17 March 2022

Before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia was fully integrated in the global aviation industry, however, sanctions imposed by Western countries, namely the European Union, the US and the UK, have changed reality and isolated the Russian aviation sector.

Most Western countries have banned Russian planes or airlines from landing or entering their airspace, and Vladimir Putin has responded with similar measures targeting Western airlines. Aeroflot, Russia’s main airline, now flies only to the Gulf, Turkey and parts of Asia, while the European Union, the US and the UK have lost a major chunk of revenue coming from Russian tourism.

On the other hand, with the ban on Western airlines from flying over Russian airspace, the duration of flights from Europe to Asia have increased substantially, by about 90 minutes, which means more fuel consumption, more expenses for each flight and consequently a possible increase in prices for these destinations and the loss of competitiveness of European airlines compared to Asian ones.