Germany bans Russian flights in tit-for-tat move

Berlin (Reuters) – Germany has refused to issue any further permits for flights arriving from Russia in a tit-for-tat move after Moscow failed to extend German airline Lufthansa’s flight permissions, the German transport ministry said on Wednesday.

The dispute follows European Union moves to stop Russia-bound flights from crossing Belarusian air space after Minsk used an apparent fake bomb threat to force an intra-EU flight to land and then arrested a dissident journalist on board.

Subsequently, Moscow refused to approve update flight plans from several European airlines that were designed to let their aircraft reach Russia without crossing its close ally Belarus.

The German transport ministry said Russia’s aviation authority FATA had not renewed Lufthansa’s flying rights for June on time, meaning a flight that had been due to depart early on June 2 had to be cancelled.

“On the basis of standard reciprocal practice, the Federal Aviation Office has not provided any further approvals for flights by Russian airlines and will not do so while Russian approval is still outstanding,” the ministry said.

It said seven Aeroflot flights had been cancelled in consequence.

Frankfurt Airport’s website showed two Moscow-bound flights on June 2 had been cancelled, one Lufthansa and one Aeroflot. A second Lufthansa flight was listed as having departed on Wednesday evening.

The transport ministry said it remained in close touch with Russian aviation authorities and that Russian airlines would be permitted to resume flying as soon as Lufthansa routes were approved.

Lufthansa was not immediately available for comment.