US Airspace Still Open to Putin, Biden Drags His Feet While World Leaders Grow Wise to Russian Aircraft
Nations around the world reacted to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by banning Russia-owned aircraft from their skies. As the European Union and other nations, such as Canada, announced bans, American skies were still…
Nations around the world reacted to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by banning Russia-owned aircraft from their skies.
As the European Union and other nations, such as Canada, announced bans, American skies were still open.
As of Sunday afternoon, Reuters reported that the U.S. was still considering what to do.
“Our European skies are open skies,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said, the The Washington Post reported. “They’re open for those who connect people, not for those who seek to brutally aggress.”
As of Sunday, Italy, Norway, France, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands were barring Russian planes. Britain, Germany, Romania, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, Greece, Moldova, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia had also acted to ban Russian aircraft, leaving Russian ally Belarus and Switzerland the only European nations not joining in the ban, according to the Post.
Canada’s minister of transport, Omar Alghabra announced his nation would join in.
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“Effective immediately, Canada’s airspace is closed to all Russian aircraft operators. We will hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked attacks against Ukraine,” he said.
In America, Delta Air Lines announced it would terminate its booking partnership with Russia’s Aeroflot, according to the BBC.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the EU’s action on Twitter.
She also said that “for the first time ever, the European Union will finance the purchase and delivery of weapons and other equipment to a country that is under attack,” according to CBS.
EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said this was a massive break with precedent, according to PBS.
“Another taboo has fallen. The taboo that the European Union was not providing arms in a war,” he said.
Reuters noted that a U.S. ban on Russian planes in American airspace, and the expected ban from Russia on U.S. planes that would follow, would create longer flight times from flights that leave the East Coast of the U.S. and head for Asia, analyst Robert Mann of R.W. Mann & Company, Inc. said.
Some flights might become too costly for airlines to continue, he explained.
“It would just add a lot of expense,” he said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.