United Airlines said Wednesday it has stopped using Russian airspace for flights between the US and Mumbai and Delhi in India. An airline spokesperson called the move “temporary,” but gave no further details.
American Airlines has avoided Russian airspace for flights between Delhi and New York by flying south of Russia.
In a message to employees on Tuesday that was viewed by TPG and confirmed by an airline spokesperson, the carrier made clear that it was their decision to stop using the airspace — and not Russia’s.
“United has decided to temporarily suspend transiting Russian airspace to operate our flights to and from BOM (Mumbai) and DEL (Delhi) India,” the message said.
United currently flies to New Delhi from its hubs in Newark (EWR), San Francisco (SFO) and Chicago O’Hare (ORD) as well as Mumbai from Newark. As a result of the longer routes made necessary due to the airline’s avoidance of Russian airspace, United said it is suspending its SFO-DEL and EWR-BOM “for the next few days.”
Other U.S. network carriers have been avoiding Russian airspace. American Airlines, which competes with United on its new New York (JFK) to Delhi route had never used Russian airspace to operate that particular route.
