Aeroflot will not fly outside Russia from March 8

With this move, Aeroflot complied with an order from the Russian aviation authorities. He called on airlines that leased planes from Western companies to stop flying outside national borders. This prevents those planes from taking over.

EU sanctions require those planes to be returned to charter companies by March 28 at the latest. For these rental companies, the chance of them seeing hundreds of billions of euros worth of Boeing and Airbus planes again is getting smaller and smaller.

For Russia, the decision also means that the country will become more isolated from the outside world. Russian aircraft are no longer welcome in the European Union due to the war that Russia has started in Ukraine. Russian Airlines was still able to fly to other countries such as China and Turkey. However, this option is now closed.

Homecoming flights
Currently, Russian airlines still operate many intercontinental flights to bring back Russians stranded abroad. For example, flights from Aeroflot, Russia, Nordwind and Azure Air will fly on Saturday to countries such as the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba, Maldives, Seychelles and Egypt.

Only foreign airlines from countries that have not imposed sanctions on Russia will continue to offer international flights from Russia after Tuesday. These include Turkish Airlines, Emirates Airlines and Qatar Airways.