Airport, Baltic States – CIS, Good for Business, Latvia, Transport

BC's photo.

As LETA was informed by airBaltic spokesman Janis Vanags, this situation can be compared to the situation during the Russia-Georgia conflict, when similar bans were put in place. Also then, passengers chose to travel between the two countries via Riga. Since the end of September, airBaltic has begun to expand its number of flights to Ukraine and Russia via Riga.

Residents of both countries already use Riga as a transit destinations for flights to Northern Europe and other regions. ''Riga is the traditional transit stop for Russian and Ukrainian residents,'' Vanags said.

At the moment, airBaltic flies to Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport five times a day, and to Vnukovo Airport two times a day. Meanwhile, the airline also flies to Kyiv three times a day.

The AFP news agency reports that Kiev said earlier this week it was banning all Russian airlines from flying into Ukraine from October 25 in a tit-for-tat response to Moscow's decision to impose a similar ban last month.

The punitive measure appeared to concern only two carriers – Siberia's UTair and the tiny Saratov Airlines – because Kiev had earlier barred bigger Russian firms in reprisal for Moscow's annexation of Crimea last year.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on September 16 blacklisted Russia's flag carrier Aeroflot' and three other state-held companies that offer regular flights to the war-torn former Soviet republic.

A spokeswoman for the State Air Service in Kiev said the Russian carriers would not be allowed to land in Ukraine but would still be permitted to cross its airspace to other destination points.

The decision underscores tensions between the two neighbors that persist despite ongoing efforts to find a political solution to the 18-month separatist crisis in Ukraine that Kiev blames on Moscow, the AFP news agency points out.

Travelers will now be able to cross the Russian-Ukrainian border only by vehicle or train. The only other option is to fly via one of the three Baltic nations or some other country with relatively convenient access to Russia.