Austrian Airlines (AUA), the flag carrier of Austria, is suspending all flights over Belarus for the coming days, until further notice, over the Ryanair plane emergency landing in Minsk, an AUA spokesperson told Sputnik on Tuesday
VIENNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2021) Austrian Airlines (AUA), the flag carrier of Austria, is suspending all flights over Belarus for the coming days, until further notice, over the Ryanair plane emergency landing in Minsk, an AUA spokesperson told Sputnik on Tuesday.
"We always make decisions in consultation with the Lufthansa Group and are in constant contact with the Austrian authorities. In the coming days and until further notice, there will be no Austrian Airlines flights that would be flying through the airspace of Belarus," the spokesperson said.
Belarus drew EU criticism after a Ryanair plane en route from Athens to Vilnius had to make an emergency landing in Minsk on Sunday, over a bomb threat, which later turned out to be fake. Roman Protasevich, one of the passengers and founder of a Telegram channel that Minsk has designated as extremist, was detained during the stopover at the airport. He may face up to 15 years in prison on several charges, including for organizing illegal protests.
The Ryanair incident has sparked a strong backlash among journalistic and human rights organizations. A number of airlines, including Lufthansa, Air France, and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), have since announced their intention to suspend operations in the Belarusian airspace.
European leaders have called on all EU-based airlines to stop flying over Belarus and began the process of banning Belarusian airlines from flying over the bloc's airspace or landing in its airports.
France has urged airlines operating in France to avoid Belarusian airspace and has suspended the operating permit of Belarus's national carrier, Belavia. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has also suspended Belavia's operating permit and is requesting all UK airlines to avoid using Belarusian airspace.
