Flight to nowhere: Aeroflot plane did not fly to New York due to sanctions against Russia

The world is getting a lot smaller for Russia's state-owned airline Aeroflot. This was reflected in the February 27 flight from Moscow to New York, according to Flightradar24. Reported a flight to nowhere One Mile At A Time.

Aeroflot makes an eight-hour flight to nowhere

On Sunday, February 27, the European Union and Canada officially banned Russian airlines from using their airspace. While the United States has yet to ban Aeroflot, it appears that Aeroflot may be canceling flights to the US due to a lack of viable routes to operate those flights, at least temporarily.

This was most noticeable in flight Aeroflot 124 from Moscow (SVO) to New York (JFK) on Sunday, February 27, 2022. The flight was scheduled to depart at 14:40 and arrive at 17:20 and was operated by a Boeing 777-300ER with registration code VP-BHA.

The flight left roughly on schedule and continued on the standard northern route for about four hours, over Finland and Sweden, and then towards Greenland.

However, news that both the EU and Canada were banning Aeroflot forced Aeroflot employees to cut their losses while they could and bring the flight back to base. Without being able to use Canadian airspace, it is possible that Aircraft there was not enough fuel to land in New York, and where the plane could even refuel at that moment.

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As a result, Aeroflot made about an eight-hour flight to nowhere. For context, below is shown what a standard route for this Aeroflot service would look like.

Aeroflot deceives Canadian airspace

On Sunday, February 27, in the morning Aeroflot 110 flight from Moscow (SVO) to Miami (MIA) operated as scheduled, departing at 7:10 and arriving at 11:50. This is because the flight (which used an Airbus A350-900) operated before Canada and the European Union formally banned Russian aircraft.

However, the return flight should have been very different. Aeroflot-111 flight from Miami to Moscow was supposed to fly at 13:55 and arrive at 8:35 in the morning on Monday, February 28. However, by the time the flight left Miami, new restrictions had already been put in place by both Canada and the European Union.

However, the flight continued to operate unrestricted within Canadian airspace.

So what happened? Did Canada allow this as a one-time exception, which would be reasonable since the plane was returning to base? No, it is stated that Aeroflot claimed it was a "humanitarian" flight, which was clearly a lie, and is now under investigation:

We are aware that Aeroflot Flight 111 violated an earlier ban on Russian flights using Canadian airspace. We are beginning to investigate the behavior of Aeroflot and the independent air navigation services provider NAVCAN that led to this breach. We will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action and other measures to prevent future violations.

It seems to be the only flight where this happened. Aeroflot 157 from Punta Cana (PUJ) to Moscow (SVO) was a little behind and this aircraft was scheduled to fly around Canada.

Conclusion

The world is gradually closing to Russian airlines, and Aeroflot is the most global of these airlines. Due to new airspace restrictions from the European Union and Canada, Aeroflot decided on Sunday to cancel the flight between Moscow and New York.

Meanwhile, Aeroflot's eastward transatlantic flights also took quite a long time on Sunday. The Miami flight was still being used in Canadian airspace, apparently deceptively claiming it was a humanitarian flight. In this regard, an investigation is underway.