On Monday 28 February, the EU Council adopted a decision to ban Russian carriers and any Russian-registered aircraft from landing on, taking off from, or flying over the territory of the European Union.
This decision also applies to all aircraft that are not registered in Russia but are owned, chartered or otherwise controlled by a Russian natural or legal person, entity or body.
Furthermore, the Eurocontrol network manager is now required to reject any flight plan submitted by operators affected by these measures and will have to submit implementation reports to the European Commission and Member States.
There is, however, an exception to the closure of EU airspace and its infrastructure to Russian-linked aircraft and companies. In fact, says the EU Council in the regulation published on Monday in the Official Journal of the EU, the competent authorities could authorise an aircraft to land, take off, or fly over EU territory if it is “ necessary for humanitarian purposes or any other purpose consistent with the objectives of this Regulation”.
The Member State(s) affected by this type of exceptional authorisation will have 2 weeks to inform other Member States and the European Commission.
See the regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/jh (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)