US President Joe Biden on Tuesday night announced in his State of the Union address that the US is banning Russian flights from its airspace in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.
The move follows similar action by Canada and the EU this week.
Biden also issued an ominous warning that without consequences, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression would not be contained to Ukraine.
Photo: AFP
“Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson — when dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos,” Biden said. “They keep moving, and the costs and threats to America and the world keep rising.”
The ban would come on top of a wide range of sanctions the US, Europe and other nations have imposed on Russia that have caused the value of its currency, the ruble, to plunge, and are expected to hammer its economy. On Sunday, the EU and Canada announced that they were closing their airspace to Russian airlines and private planes owned by wealthy Russians.
The Canadian ban led Russia’s largest airline, Aeroflot, to say on Monday that it had suspended flights to New York, Washington, Miami and Los Angeles through yesterday.
The US ban raises the possibility that Russia could respond by prohibiting US flights over its territory, which would make for longer and more costly flights, especially for cargo carriers.
FedEx and UPS both fly over Russia, although over the weekend they announced that they were suspending deliveries to that country.
No US airlines fly to Russia, although a few flights to India pass through Russian airspace. American Airlines routes its lone flight between New Delhi and New York to avoid Russian airspace, which adds kilometers to the trip and means that the flight often requires a refueling stop in Bangor, Maine, on westbound flights.
Russia also has an interest in preserving overflights by US carriers. Aviation experts say Russia derives a sizeable amount of money from fees that it levies to use its airspace or land at its airports.
European airlines fly over Russia far more often than their US counterparts. Before the war, about 600 flights to or from Europe passed through Russian airspace, aviation data firm Cirium said.
A ban on Russian flights could also lead to retaliation against Boeing, a major US exporter and one of the world’s two dominant aircraft manufacturers.
Russia and China are widely assumed to be talking to each other about foreign policy.
The rise in tension between the West and Moscow makes it less likely that China will soon reauthorize flights by Boeing’s 737 Max jetliner, said George Ferguson, an aerospace analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence.
China was the biggest market for the Max before it was grounded following two fatal crashes, and neither China nor Russia has yet approved the plane’s return.
A delay in their approving the Max would reduce Boeing’s expected aircraft deliveries, an important source of cash for the Chicago-based company, Ferguson said.
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