GLOBAL airlines are trying everything they can to avoid Russian airspace but few to the extent of Finnair Oyj, the flag carrier of Finland, reports Bloomberg.
It's flying around its northern neighbour, retracing routes left decades ago at the end of the Cold War.
The economic burden of those end-runs is measured in jet fuel burn, extended duty times, and the potential for more crews being required on some longer flights.
Airlines may face additional maintenance costs for heavier use of their long-haul jets.
The diversions are also blowing a big hole in airlines' commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
'The impact of these is so great, that at this stage we are unfortunately not able to offer passenger connections to all of our Asian destinations,' said Finnair vice president Perttu Jolma.
The Nordic carrier got rid of its Northeast Asian flights and re-routed trips to Southeast Asia after being banished from Russian airspace.
Said representative Paivyt Tallqvist: 'We've had to rethink all our Asian services after the ban on using Russian airspace,'
After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, global airlines began exploring routine flights over Russia to save time and money.
Finnair started trans-Siberian service after a bilateral agreement in 1994.
New limits on destinations and less frequent flights mean fewer workers are needed.
'We now expect to furlough about 100 to 180 pilots and 150 to 380 cabin crew,' said Ms Tallqvist.
SeaNews Turkey
It's flying around its northern neighbour, retracing routes left decades ago at the end of the Cold War.
The economic burden of those end-runs is measured in jet fuel burn, extended duty times, and the potential for more crews being required on some longer flights.
Airlines may face additional maintenance costs for heavier use of their long-haul jets.
The diversions are also blowing a big hole in airlines' commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
'The impact of these is so great, that at this stage we are unfortunately not able to offer passenger connections to all of our Asian destinations,' said Finnair vice president Perttu Jolma.
The Nordic carrier got rid of its Northeast Asian flights and re-routed trips to Southeast Asia after being banished from Russian airspace.
Said representative Paivyt Tallqvist: 'We've had to rethink all our Asian services after the ban on using Russian airspace,'
After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, global airlines began exploring routine flights over Russia to save time and money.
Finnair started trans-Siberian service after a bilateral agreement in 1994.
New limits on destinations and less frequent flights mean fewer workers are needed.
'We now expect to furlough about 100 to 180 pilots and 150 to 380 cabin crew,' said Ms Tallqvist.
SeaNews Turkey
