Aircraft and passengers could be stranded as a result. “We can no longer guarantee that flights to and over Russia can return safely,” KLM said on Saturday evening. The airline only learned of a boycott on the delivery of aircraft parts to Russia on Saturday, while two flights were already en route to Moscow and Saint Petersburg. These flights had to divert headlong to Estonia.
The enormous Russian airspace is important to KLM because of the routes to Asia. Now the airline has to make a detour via, for example, the Middle East, which costs hours more in travel time and more fuel. For the time being, KLM will continue to cooperate commercially with the Russian Aeroflot in the Skyteam partnership. Dutch politicians want a flight ban for Russian airlines at Schiphol in connection with the invasion of Ukraine.
