Some Chinese carriers appear to be avoiding the airspace over southwestern Russia after a deadly Azerbaijan Airlines crash that officials in Baku have blamed on the Russian military.
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China is among the few countries still using Russian airspace for civilian flights since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
However, flights between western China’s Urumqi and Georgian capital Tbilisi have circumvented southwest Russia’s Dagestan region since an Azerbaijan Airlines came down on Christmas Day, according to tracking data from Flightradar24.
Flights operated by China Southern Airlines and Air China since December 26 flew into Georgian air space through Azerbaijan after crossing the Caspian Sea, and took the same route back, the data showed.
Changes were also seen in China Southern flights connecting Hungarian capital Budapest to Guangzhou in south China.
Instead of passing through the Dagestan region towards Hungary after crossing the Caspian Sea, China Southern planes in the past week have flown across central and western Russia before flying south to reach Budapest – a route that the airline sometimes took even before the crash.
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Most Chinese carriers have continued to use their original routes across Russian airspace, especially those bound for western Europe and Scandinavia.
Euronews reported in July that China had the largest number of airlines using Russian airspace. Russia closed its airspace to most Western airlines in 2022, in retaliation for sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine.