Qantas pulls flights out of Russian airspace in response to Ukraine conflict

Qantas will reroute its London flights away from Russian airspace in response to the ‘evolving situation’ in Ukraine.

“Given the current circumstances and complexities, we’re opting to use one of our alternative flight paths that doesn’t overfly Russia while we continue to monitor this evolving situation,” a Qantas spokesman said. Picture: Getty Images

Qantas will stop sending its London flights through Russian airspace following similar moves by other carriers amid the worsening conflict in Ukraine.

As recently as Saturday, Qantas confirmed it was maintaining a flight path over northern Russia, more than 800km from the border with Ukraine.

Airlines that operate through the airspace of foreign countries pay a fee to do so and Qantas confirmed it was paying Russia to operate in its airspace.

Qantas’s Darwin-London flights will now fly through the Middle East and southern Europe to the south of Ukraine instead, adding about an hour to the flight time.

“Given the current circumstances and complexities, we’re opting to use one of our alternative flight paths that doesn’t overfly Russia while we continue to monitor this evolving situation,” a Qantas spokesman said.

“We regularly review our flight paths and make any ­adjustments we consider prudent.”

The first flight to operate on the alternative route is flight QF2 from London to Darwin, which is due to takeoff on Sunday just before 9pm AEDT.

There had been growing concern among passengers travelling on Darwin-London services about the flight path over Russia.

Flight path of Qantas flight QF1 from Darwin to London. Qantas will now reroute the flights through the Middle East and southern Europe rather than through Russian airspace. Picture: Flightradar24.com

Qantas had used the same route since commencing those flights in November.

Lyall Howard, whose wife flew on QF1 on Saturday said she was told Qantas had “diplomatic clearance from Russia” to operate through the country’s north.

“An announcement invited passengers to go to a desk if they had any concerns,” Mr Howard said. “The Ukraine situation was not mentioned again during the flight.”

On Sunday, Lufthansa turned around flights to Tokyo and Seoul hours into their journey after taking the decision to avoid Russian airspace for seven days.

“Flights that are in Russian airspace will leave it shortly. Lufthansa continues to monitor the situation closely and is in close exchange with international and national authorities,” a statement from Lufthansa said.

“The safety of our passengers and crew members is our top priority at all times.”

Latvia’s airBaltic has also halted flights in and out of Russia, as a growing number of European countries close their airspace to Russian aircraft including its national carrier Aeroflot.

The UK was the first to move, prompting a retaliatory ban on British carriers flying over Russia.

Poland, Estonia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Lithuania and Slovenia have also banned any Russian activity in their airspace.