As the war in Ukraine continues, Western nations have imposed costly economic sanctions on Russia, including restricting access to their airspace. With this move reciprocated, connectivity between Asia, Europe, and North America will be hit, adding flight times and possibly canceling some routes for good. Here's a look at the effects.

The long way around

At the time of writing, the EU, US, Canada, and other allies have been banned from overflying Russia. This means all airlines in these countries must find a new way to maintain connectivity to South and East Asia while remaining economically feasible.

A prime example of the creative routing airlines are applying can be seen on Finnair's daily service from Helsinki and Tokyo. This route previously took nine hours to complete and saw the airline cross through much of northern Russia before descending through China and into Japan.

After a ten-day suspension, the route resumed on 9th March, following a new polar route. This new path would see the airline fly north from Finland, near the North Pole, and descend near Alaska before overflying the Pacific Ocean to reach Tokyo. The cost of the new routing: 12 hours and 56 minutes, a full four hours beyond the average time.

Screenshot 2022-03-12 at 16.52.46
This new flight plan adds four hours to the routing, costing the airline heavily in terms of extra fuel, crew costs, and passenger comfort. Map and Data: FlightRadar24.com

The next day, Finnair tried to fly the alternate routing available. This took the airline through Eastern Europe and Central Asia before flying through northern China and landing in Japan. This shaved off 30 minutes from the Polar route, taking 12 hours and 22 minutes. However, the flight plan relies heavily on prevailing winds, and 12th March's flight is back on the Polar route for now.

Even more complex

When looking at flights between North America and Asia, things only get more complicated. For instance, United has been forced to ax service from Newark to Mumbai and Delhi to San Francisco due to lack of access to Russia. The route that remains, such as Delhi-Newark, has seen flight times rise by 1.5 hours to just under 16 hours.

For now, the situation is reminiscent of the Cold War era, which saw airlines make a stop in Anchorage, Alaska, to fly between Europe or North America and East Asia. However, longer range on aircraft and more available airspace for airlines to fly over (the Soviet Union was far larger) means that most passengers will face more hours onboard if flying nonstop. Some routes, though, may not be able to survive the sudden crunch.

ANA 777
Japanese airlines have cut back services and added 3-4 hours to support their European operations. Photo: Getty Images

The reason behind canceled flights and scaled-back service also has to do with the cost of flying extra hours. With jet fuel prices rising 20% in the last week and doubling from last year, every minute of flying has become more expensive for carriers. This led to Finnair announcing a suspension of most of its Asian operations and airlines thinking long and hard about which routes can support the extra costs of additional time. For now, expect to see connectivity hit hard between countries as direct flights become more challenging for airlines.

What do you think about the new flight routes airlines are following? Let us know in the comments.