The European Union decided on Friday 4 June to ban overflight of EU airspace and access to EU airports for Belarusian carriers of all kinds.
This measure was decided by EU leaders on 27 May (see EUROPE 12725/1), in retaliation for the hijacking of an airliner to Minsk and the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich and his fiancée, and needed to be legally formalised.
With this measure, Member States will have to refuse permission to land on, take off from or fly over their territory to any aircraft operated by Belarusian air carriers. This prohibition shall not apply in the case of an emergency landing or emergency overflight or if the Member State(s) concerned determine that a landing, take-off or overflight is necessary for humanitarian purposes.
This measure mainly concerns the national airline Belavia, which has flights to several EU countries. Even before the European decision, the company had announced the suspension of many flights to the EU.
The measure was due to come into force at midnight on the night of 4-5 June.
On the same day, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) denounced the decision of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on 2 June to ban aircraft flying under the European flag from entering Belarusian airspace. In a statement, IATA called on EASA to “maintain the critical separation between policy and aviation safety issues. Aviation safety must never be politicised”, the association added, calling on the EU agency to reverse its decision and “allow airlines to manage safety as they do every day - with their normal operational risk assessments”.
In addition, the EU is working on additional targeted sanctions against the Belarusian regime, which could be adopted next week, and on economic sanctions which could be adopted at the Foreign Affairs Council on 21 June.
See the legal acts: https://bit.ly/3uRNNjo (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)