Jordan began to refuse Russian airlines to fly through its airspace, thus blocking the way for Russian tourists to the resorts of Egypt.
According to the Telegram channel about the Russian aviation market “Aviatorshchyna”, at the moment several Russian carriers use Jordanian skies during flights to Egypt due to the ban on flying dual-registration planes through Turkey. But since last week, the Jordanian aviation authority has stopped approving of programs with flights in its airspace, two sources told the publication at the same time.
It is reported that the Russian Nordwind, which has already stopped operating flights over Jordan, was the first airline to face a flight denial. After it, the Russian i-Fly was also affected – it was not allowed to fly in Jordanian skies from December 15, 2022.
According to the publication’s interlocutor, the Jordanian aviation authority has set a new requirement for Russian airlines – they now need to provide third-party aviation insurance with reinsurance on the English market, but this service is currently closed to Russia due to sanctions.
Such a decision in “Aviatorshchyna” is explained by the fact that the Jordanian authorities do not believe in the possibility of Russian insurance companies, where the planes were insured after they were transferred to the domestic register, in the event of any event to compensate for the damage caused. In addition, Jordan has now also changed its mind to allow dual-registration Russian airliners into its skies.
“Thus, due to the actions of Jordan, at least two carriers have experienced significant difficulties with flights to Egypt. They cannot fly through Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and now Jordan. In addition, Syria is closed to all Russian carriers,” the publication notes.
As a result, Nordwind, which operated flights with dual-registration Boeing 737-800 aircraft from regions of Russia to Egyptian resorts for the benefit of tour operator Pegas Touristik, was forced to cancel all flights to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. The tour operator transfers tourists to flights of the Turkish airline Southwind with a transfer to Antalya.
The second airline – i-Fly, according to “Aviatorschyna”, does not plan to abandon flights to Egypt (flights are operated by Airbus A330 aircraft). Previously, from December 15, it will start flying to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh on new routes to bypass Saudi Arabia from the south, which will significantly increase the duration of flights.
After Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the European Union, the United States, and many other countries introduced tough sanctions against the Russian Federation, which, in particular, affected the Russian civil aviation sector.
In particular, the EU closed its airspace to all Russian airlines, and many of the world’s air carriers stopped flying to Russia. In addition, Europe has suspended the validity of the airworthiness certificates of all Russian airlines.
In August 2022, it became known that Russian airlines, particularly the state-controlled Aeroflot, began to dismantle planes to have spare parts that they could no longer buy abroad due to Western sanctions.
In the autumn of 2022, the British company Skytrax excluded all Russian airlines from its ranking of the best air carriers in 2022, which is considered the most prestigious in the aviation industry.