In full resumption of links with Asia, the closure of Russian airspace to Western companies represents a blow for them and a boon for their competitors from countries not aligned with the sanctions against Moscow.
For Russian blacklisted carriers, the puzzle is 31 times the size of France and spans 11 time zones. It means a loss of time, money and competitiveness, especially for links to Asia.
Thus, Air France planes, for a Paris-Beijing, now pass south of the Caucasus and then through the republics of Central Asia.
Distance: 9,800 km, against some 8,400 by the Moscow region, the Urals and Siberia, according to data recorded on the flight tracking site Flightradar24. That is two hours of additional flight.
Between fuel and personnel costs, “it costs a lot more”, summarizes Air France-KLM CEO Benjamin Smith to AFP: “It’s a big subject for us.”
An even more acute problem for Finnair, which had focused its strategy on Helsinki as a connecting hub and acquired “a large number of large aircraft to serve routes between Asia, Europe and North America”, Vik Krishnan told AFP. partner at McKinsey and aviation specialist.
The reciprocal is imposed on Russia, whose flights between Moscow and Havana or Caracas are forced to pass… north of Norway to avoid EU or NATO countries, areas prohibited from invasion of Ukraine.
But these connections remain anecdotal, whereas in 2019, before the pandemic, some 10 million Chinese tourists had visited Europe.
When Russia closed its airspace at the end of February 2022 to companies from countries deemed hostile, the impact on overflights had been reduced. As a result of Covid-19, passenger numbers on air routes between Asia and the rest of the world have been leveling off for two years below 10% of 2019 levels.
With the recent reopening of China, the situation is changing. In April, passenger volumes on these lines tripled over a year, according to the International Air Transport Association (Iata), which is holding its general meeting in Istanbul until Tuesday.
The subject had previously found itself at the center of negotiations between Paris and Beijing on the increase in the rate of their air links, requested by the French tourism sector but risking to weaken the position of Air France.
“We want to make sure that the companies which have the right to fly to France or the Netherlands respect the same restrictions as us”, remarks Mr. Smith, referring to the risk of seeing his group “crowded out of the market” on these routes. .
The same struggles in the United States, where the airline lobby Airlines for America warned in March of a “situation of competitive disadvantage”.
“It’s a big problem”, confirms the general manager of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, interviewed by AFP in Istanbul: without going through Russia, his company can no longer connect four destinations out of the five it served in India.
In addition, “I am concerned that if planes fly over Russia and they have famous Americans on board”, a diversion at a Russian airport, for mechanical or medical reasons, “poses a risk of crisis “, he adds.
An element taken up by the boss of Lufthansa, Carsten Spohr, but to minimize the consequences of the two additional hours of flight on the attractiveness of his company: “There are also customers who do not want to spend this moment in space Russian air force”, he underlines in Istanbul.
Among the countries to which Russian airspace is still open, in addition to China, are the Gulf monarchies with powerful companies such as Emirates and Qatar Airways, Egypt, India… and Turkey, whose frequencies with Moscow have surged since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Iata, which federates companies from these countries and carriers blacklisted by Moscow, refuses to take sides. “We would like Russian airspace to be open to everyone,” said the organization’s director general, Willie Walsh.
“We would prefer to see everyone compete on an equal footing, but that’s a political decision, which can only be taken when peace returns,” he concludes.
05/06/2023 16:51:53 – Istanbul (AFP) © 2023 AFP
