European air transport safety regulators have expanded a conflict-zone advisory for Russian airspace, two weeks after crash of an Embraer 190 suspected to have been damaged by military activity in Chechnya.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency is advising against all operations, regardless of altitude, within five Russian airspace regions west of the 60°E longitude – which lies in the vicinity of Ekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk.
These five flight information regions comprise Moscow, St Petersburg, Samara, Ekaterinburg and Rostov-on-Don.
But EASA also stresses that this revised bulletin applies to foreign air carriers which have obtained third-country operator authorisation from the regulator.
Azerbaijan Airlines, which operated the E190 involved in the 25 December crash at Aktau in Kazakhstan, is listed by EASA as a carrier which has third-country approval.
EASA states that its revised conflict-zone bulletin is valid at least until 31 July.
“It is important to note that no [European Union] airlines currently fly to, from or over the airspace of the Russian Federation,” it adds.
“However, a number of third-country carriers continue to do so, despite the war-related risks.”
The bulletin says the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to present a risk of unintentional attack on civil aircraft.
“Activation of Russian air-defence systems, capable of operating at all altitudes, in response to Ukrainian missile and drone launches, which have extended deep inside Russian territory, may have a direct impact on flight operations at several locations, including major international airports,” it states.
“Most of the incidents have occurred in airspace not closed by the Russian Federation during drones attacks or activation of air-defence systems.”
EASA highlights the Azerbaijan E190 event – the inquiry into which is still in progress – as illustrating the “high risk” to flight operations. The aircraft had been bound for Grozny from Baku, but crashed while attempting to divert to Aktau.
EASA says the airspace management authorities have not demonstrated “full proficiency” to address risks through an “efficient and pro-active approach” to de-confliction.
“As a result, there are limited mitigating factors on which air operators can rely at present,” it says, adding that the region also remains subject to satellite-based navigation interference.
