38 of the 67 persons on board the Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 perished when aircraft crashed close to the Kazakh city of Aktau this week on route from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Grozny, Russia , This has generated questions and caused some airlines to review their policies including Russian airspace.

Moscow has not made any formal comment about the likelihood that its air defense systems unintentionally shot down the airliner in spite of conjecture, Russia has responded to the event by claiming that Grozny was under attack from Ukrainian drones on the day of the collision, implying that the area was a combat zone where the presence of military action might have contributed to the disaster, Russian authorities have not, however, conducted any official inquiry or confirmed missile involvement.

Many airlines have stopped flying to Russia in response to precautionary actions taken as the incident underlines inquiry under progress, The most recent airline to report flight cancellations was Turkmenistan Airlines, the official carrier of Turkmenistan. Though no particular explanation was given, the airline disclosed that its regular service between Ashgabat and Moscow, slated to run from December 30, 2024, to January 31, 2025, will be discontinued.

This relates to the activities other carriers, notably flydubai UAE-based, stopped flights between Dubai and the Russian cities of Mineralnye Vody and Sochi from December 27, 2024, till January 3, 2025, Flydubai's ruling followed the crash's raising of questions regarding the safety of flying on Russian territory, particularly for flights in areas impacted by Russia's continuous conflict with Ukraine. Likewise, citing safety issues as part of the larger airspace uncertainty following the tragedy, Kazakhstan 's Qazaq Air has also announced a suspension of flights to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg until the end of January 2025.

Though for a limited duration, Israeli airline El Al joined the increasing list of airlines banning flights to Russia earlier in the week, The airline said it will stop running flights out of Moscow for a week in view of the continuous inquiry into the events surrounding the tragedy.

The international aviation community has paid close attention to the accident of the Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190, which had been flying from Azerbaijan's capital of Baku to Grozny. Close to the Caspian Sea, the plane crashed close to Aktau, a city on western fringe of Kazakhstan. With over half of the passengers on board losing their lives in the terrible disaster, it was carrying a mix of crew members and other civilians.

Although the precise reason of the accident is yet unknown, experts and governments both have paid close attention to Russian air defense system participation. Accidental missile strikes in conflict areas have caused major questions regarding the safety of civilian aircraft over areas of continuous military activities, Airlines stopping flights to Russian cities following the incident show the increased sensitivity in the global aviation sector about planes possibly passing close to conflict areas.

Multiple airlines cancel flights to Russia following Azerbaijan Airlines crash

Comments