The Russian airline Ural Airlines has canceled flights to Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Uzbekistan until October 29, the company said.
All flights from/to Kazakhstan were canceled from 11.03.2022 to 29.10.2022 inclusive, from/to Azerbaijan – from 08.03.2022 to 29.11.2022, from/to Armenia from 03.03.2022 to 29.11.2022, from/to Uzbekistan - until 29.10.2022.
The airline explained the decision to cancel flights by "closing the airspace of European countries."
On April 11, the EU added 21 Russian airlines to the list of companies that are banned from flying to the EU. The restrictions affected, among other things, Ural Airlines.
The technical director of Ural Airlines, Igor Poddubny, noted that the company can operate flights "without stopping the planes and without dismantling them for spare parts" for another two to three months, Vedomosti reports.
On February 26, against the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the European Union banned the supply, sale, maintenance and insurance of European aircraft in Russia, as well as leasing them. On March 28, contracts between European lessors and Russian companies ceased to operate. The Ministry of Transport reported that almost 800 out of 1,300 aircraft were transferred to the Russian aviation registry, and 79 aircraft were arrested abroad, Kommersant said.
According to the Uralinformburo, Ural Airlines is one of the leading airlines in Russia in terms of passenger traffic. The company's fleet consists of 54 aircraft of the European Airbus (14 A321, 24 A320, 5 A319, 3 A320neo and 8 A321neo).
