How the war in Ukraine is impacting European aviation and airspace

Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has brought devastation to the country and misery to millions of Ukrainian citizens – and created a gigantic hole in Europe’s airspace that has huge implications for network traffic.

The closure of Ukraine’s airspace, and the unavailability of Russian airspace to most carriers, have caused a wave of cancelled or uneconomic lengthy rerouted flights, while spiking oil prices are starting to hit airline profitability hard – dashing optimism that European aviation was back on track to recover this year to close to pre-pandemic levels.

EUROCONTROL‘s strategic webinar on the impact of airspace closures on European aviation will be exploring the huge strategic, political and operational ramifications of the ongoing war with three key players:

• Henrik Hololei, DG of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), will be analysing the political impacts of the crisis on European aviation
• Rafal Milczarski, CEO of LOT Polish Airlines, will be talking about how airlines are dealing with the situation
• And, Raine Luojus, CEO of Fintraffic ANS and Civil Air Navigation Service Organisation (CANSO EC3) Chair, will be explaining how shifting traffic flows and blocked routes are putting pressure on ANSPs.

The live discussion will air on 25 March at 15.00 (CET).