Siberia Flight-Ban Threat Forces Airlines to Mull Options
By Mary Schlangenstein and Caelainn Barr Aug 8, 2014 11:16 AM ET
Russia’s threat to bar European and North American airlines from overflying Siberia, the latest salvo in tit-for-tat sanctions over Ukraine, is forcing carriers to consider new routes to and from Asia.
United Airlines (UAL) and Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL), which rank second and third in the world by traffic, said yesterday they were weighing their options after Russia formally broached the idea of a Siberia ban. United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS), the biggest package-delivery company, also is making contingency plans.
A closing of Siberian airspace threatens to escalate tensions between Russia and the U.S. and its allies in Europe, which have sought to punish President Vladimir Putin for backing Ukraine’s separatists. North American and European passenger and airfreight operators cross eastern Russia hundreds of times a week because it’s the shortest -- and cheapest -- path to Asia.
“These sanctions that are being threatened back and forth are very serious,” said Brian F. Havel, associate dean for international affairs at DePaul University in Chicago. “This is very Cold War-like in its thinking. Aviation was bound to come on the agenda.”
The comments by United, Delta and UPS signaled that airlines are reacting to the possibility of losing their fuel-saving Siberian routes. A Russian business newspaper floated the Siberia shutdown on Aug. 5, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told Russia’s cabinet yesterday that a ban is “on the table.”
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-07/siberia-flight-ban-threat-forces-airlines-to-mull-options.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
