Aeroflot halts international flights as Russian sanctions increase risk of foreign-leased planes being impounded

• Aeroflot, Russia’s flagship carrier, announced a halt on all international flights from March 8.
• The company said in a statement that domestic flights will continue as normal.
• Fights to Belarus will not be affected either, according to the airline.

Aeroflot, Russia’s flagship airline, has announced it is suspending international flights, except those to Belarus.

There is a high risk of foreign-leased planes being impounded due to sanctions imposed on Russia.

In a statement posted on its website on Saturday, Aeroflot said there would be a temporary suspension of all international flights from March 8, “due to the occurrence of additional circumstances that impede the operation of flights.”

The suspension doesn’t apply to foreign airlines from countries that have not imposed sanctions on Russia and haven’t shut down their airspace. 

The statement added that the airline would let passengers with one-way tickets fly up until March 8. However, it will cancel return tickets for passengers who are scheduled to depart Russia after March 6 and come back after March 8. 

Domestic routes are due to continue unchanged, as are flights to Belarus.

S7, Russia’s biggest private airline and second-largest globally, said on Friday it was ceasing all international flights as of Saturday, according to Reuters. 

The company did not give a reason for the move.

Aeroflot and S7 did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment made outside of normal working hours.

The move follows sanctions imposed by Western countries including the US and the EU. After the UK banned Russian planes from its airspace, Russia issued its own ban in retaliation.

Insider’s Taylor Ardrey previously reported that Estonia and Romania have also barred Russia from their airspace, along with many other European countries.

There has been global condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin has called a “special operation.”

The EU gave aircraft lessors until March 28 to end any rental contracts in Russia as part of the sanctions to punish Putin. The sanctions banned “any plane owned, chartered or otherwise controlled by a Russian legal or natural person” from entering EU airspace. 

Meanwhile, low-cost airline Wizz Air has offered Ukrainians 100,000 free seats from Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania to cities in Europe.