Russia closed its airspace to airlines from even more countries today, calling it a symmetrical response to the growing list of sanctions imposed on it by governments worldwide over its invasion of Ukraine. There are now 36 countries whose airlines are banned from using Russia's airspace.

36 countries on the list

Russia's aviation authority has today updated the list of countries whose airlines are no longer allowed to use Russia's large airspace. The move will sharply reduce the viability of many long-haul routes to Asia out of Europe, just like European countries' bans on Russian airlines using their own respective airspaces had hurt Russia's airlines.

As of the evening of Monday 28th February 2022, the list is as follows:

Albania, Anguilla, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark (including Greenland, Faroe Islands, Territorial Seas), Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Gibraltar, Hungary, Jersey, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

It is likely that Switzerland will join the list after it adopted the European Union's sanctions package against Russia earlier today. The country's flag carrier SWISS has already started canceling all flights from Zurich (ZRH) and Geneva (GVA) to Moscow (DME) today, and Aeroflot has done the same for its flights from Moscow (SVO) to Geneva (GVA) and to Zurich (ZRH).

A notable exception from the list is Serbia. The country's flag carrier, Air Serbia, continues to operate flights to Russia as its President, Aleksandar Vučić, refuses to impose sanctions on Russia.

Another exception is Moldova which ordinarily sees numerous flights to Russia but these, along with almost all other flights out of Moldova, are not operating. The canceled services include Air Moldova's flights from Chisinau (KIV) to St Petersburg (LED) and Moscow (DME), Aeroflot's flights from Chisinau (KIV) to St Petersburg (LED) and Moscow (SVO), Rossiya's flights to St Petersburg (LED), S7's flights to Moscow (DME), FlyOne Moldova's flights to St Petersburg (LED).

Two other exceptions are Turkey and Belarus, both of which have airlines that continue to operate flights to Russia.

Other exceptions from the list above are Montenegro, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra, North Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but none of these countries have airlines that operate flights to Russia.

Air Serbia is profiting from the (lack of) sanctions

Serbia chose not to impose any sanctions on Russia after its President, Aleksandar Vučić, said that Russia is a guarantor of Serbia's sovereignty.

The country's flag carrier, Air Serbia, is set to profit from this very strongly. The market between Belgrade and Russia has long been a thriving one. Air Serbia is now the only airline that can operate the route.

Flights between Moscow (SVO) and Belgrade (BEG) are sold out for the rest of this week. There are seven rotations yet to come.

The airline has boosted capacity significantly, scheduling its wide-body Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the route, but flights have sold out once again nevertheless. The A330 will fly on the route tomorrow already.

Air Serbia will also fly to St Petersburg (LED) on Saturday 5th March. The return leg of this rotation, from Russia to Serbia, has already sold out.