AZAL Azerbaijan Airlines (J2, Baku Heydar Aliev International) suspended eight more scheduled routes to Russia following the suspected anti-aircraft missile hit of its E190 4K-AZ65 (msn 19000630) near Grozny and the subsequent crash near Aktau in Kazakhstan. The decision follows the order of the State Civil Aviation Authority, which banned flights from Azerbaijan to some Russian airports.
The Azerbaijani flag carrier suspended its services from Baku Heydar Aliev International to Grozny and nearby Makhachkala shortly after the crash, but subsequently expanded the list to include eight other airports, namely: Mineralnye Vody, Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara Kurumoch, Saratov Gagarin, Nizhny Novgorod Strigino, and Vladikavkaz.
AZAL continues to fly to St. Petersburg, Moscow Domodedovo, and Moscow Vnukovo in Russia.
The regulator's decision also affected Russian airlines, which had scheduled flights from those cities to Baku and Ganja, including Azimuth, IrAero, UTair, and Ural Airlines.
Meanwhile, while unaffected by the regulatory developments in Azerbaijan, a growing number of international carriers have also trimmed at least some of their Russian routes.
Turkmenistan Airlines announced that its Ashgabat-Moscow Domodedovo route will be suspended between December 30, 2024 and January 31, 2025. The airline did not provide reasons. It operated the route, its only scheduled passenger service to Russia, 4x weekly.
El Al Israel Airlines suspended its only Russian route, the daily (except Saturdays) service from Tel Aviv Ben Gurion to Domodedovo, on December 26 "due to the developments in Russian airspace". While the carrier said flights would only be suspended for a week, there is currently no published restart date.
Qazaq Air paused its flights from Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev to Ekaterinburg on December 28, 2024, "based on the results of an ongoing risk assessment of flights to Russia". The route is tentatively scheduled to restart on January 27, subject to risk reevaluation. Qazaq Air will continue to fly to Omsk and Novosibirsk in Russia.
flydubai suspended its flights from Dubai International to Sochi and Mineralye Vody until at least early January 2025 due to unspecified "technical reasons." The Emirati carrier continues to fly to nine other cities in Russia.
The E190, scheduled to fly from Baku to Grozny on December 25, crashed while attempting to land at the airport in Aktau. The Azerbaijani authorities confirmed that the regional jet suffered an "external impact" over Russia before diverting in an emergency to Aktau. The US government said there were "indications" the aircraft was hit by Russian anti-aircraft missiles. Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his apologies to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev for an "incident that occurred in Russian airspace," without addressing the causes. A total of 29 out of 67 persons on board survived the crash.
