Russia has closed its airspace to British airlines, including transit flights, it announced Friday after London banned Russian flag-carrier Aeroflot from its own airspace.
The Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) banned Russian airspace to any aircraft that is owned, leased, operated or registered in the United Kingdom after sending a proposal for consultations with Britain’s aviation authorities late Thursday.
“A negative response was received from U.K. colleagues this morning,” it said in a statement.
“That serves as the basis for Russia to take tit-for-tat measures,” Rosaviatsia added, saying the ban took effect at 11:00 a.m. Moscow time.
The agency said British airlines were scheduled to perform two London-Moscow flights and 70 transit flights through Russia on Friday.
