BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th May, 2021) An Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to Moscow was scrapped on Thursday after Russia refused to authorize a new route bypassing Belarusian airspace.
"Rerouting needs to be approved by authorities. The Russian authorities did not give us their permission. Austrian Airlines had to cancel today's Vienna-Moscow flight," it said in a statement.
The Austrian flag-carrier suspended flights over Belarus after the European Union Aviation Safety Agency advised that planes should avoid the eastern European country due to a Ryanair jet diversion.
The passenger plane was en route from Greece to Lithuania on Sunday when it was diverted to a Minsk airport. Belarus says that it was alerted to a bomb on board and that there was no pressure on the jet to land, but Western countries argue that it was a forced landing.
