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Austria’s Foreign Ministry said Russia’s refusal to approve the flight plan changes was “completely incomprehensible” and called on the country “not to artificially impede free air traffic between Russia and Europe.”
“Both Austria and Russia have an interest in ensuring that all flights to and through Russia can continue without any problems,” the ministry said in a statement sent to the AFP news agency.
Austrian Airlines had to cancel a scheduled flight on the Vienna-Moscow route on Thursday because Russia had not approved changes to the flight plan to allow the aircraft to bypass Belarusian airspace.
Following the recommendations of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), these Austrian airlines stopped flights over Belarus, making it necessary to change the flight plan.
“Changes in flight plans must be approved by the authorities. The Russian authorities did not give us such permission,” the airline said in an airline report sent to AFP.
Belarus sparked international outrage on Sunday after forcibly landing a Ryanair plane flying from Athens to Vilnius in Minsk and arresting an opposition journalist flying in it.
In response, EU leaders decided on Monday to ban Belarusian planes from entering European airspace and issued a recommendation to EU airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace.
Austrian Airlines is part of the German Lufthansa group.
Lufthansa has confirmed to AFP that all its airlines are “currently avoiding Belarusian airspace”.
However, planned flights to Moscow and St. Petersburg continue, the company added.
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