Britain tightened sanctions against Aeroflot and Rossiya

London expanded sanctions against three Russian air carriers, banning them from selling their unused takeoff and landing slots at British airports. Britain believes that RUSSIAcan get up to £50 million from this

The UK has tightened sanctions against three Russian air carriers with state participation: Aeroflot, Ural Airlines and Rossiya Airlines. This is stated in a joint statement by the heads of the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Transport of the United Kingdom.

“The new sanctions against Russian airlines will prevent them from raising up to £50m from the sale of boarding slots at major UK airports. Sanctions imposed on state-owned Aeroflot, Ural Airlines and Rossiya on May 19 make it impossible for them to sell unused slots,” the message says.

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A slot in aviation is a permission to take off or land an aircraft at a certain airport on a certain day for a certain period of time. This permission is intended for planning the use of the aircraft and is different from the permission to take off and land from the air traffic control service during the flight. Slots, or restrictions on them, are a tool for air traffic control at heavily loaded airports to evenly distribute departing or arriving flights.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that Britain will continue to exert sanctions pressure on Russia and its economy. “Each sanctions measure underlines our clear message to [Vladimir] Putin – we will not stop until Ukraine wins,” Truss said in a statement.

In turn, British Transport Minister Grant Shapps recalled that Britain was among the first to begin tightening sanctions against Russia at the end of February 2022. “The latest measures taken will not allow Russia to enjoy the benefits of a first-class British transport and aviation system,” Shapps added.

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According to the British aviation portal HEAD for Points, which refers to the Airport Coordination company’s airport slot distribution program, during the summer period of the flight schedule (from the end of March to the end of April) 2022, Aeroflot had an average of 70 slots assigned to it as of March 21 a week at London Heathrow Airport, or 0.72% of the total. The portal notes that the airline spends two slots to perform one round-trip flight, therefore, on average, Aeroflot could operate 35 flights to Heathrow per week.

The largest "owner" of Heathrow slots is the national airline British Airways, for which the London airport is the base. More than 4.9 thousand average weekly slots, or 51.16% of the total, are assigned to it in the summer schedule of 2022. In second place is Virgin Atlantic with 394 slots and 4.07%.

Airlines can assign slots to sub-carriers or share slots. Airlines are required to use at least 70% of the slots allocated to them, otherwise they will lose them. In a March 21 publication, Head for Points noted that Aeroflot could have kept its slots at Heathrow because it did not fly for "geopolitical reasons" and was subject to "use it [the slots] or lose it" exceptions.

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Earlier, the British authorities closed the airspace for airlines from Russia. Landing on the territory of the country was also banned for private planes of the "oligarchs". The landing and maintenance of Russian aircraft in Britain, as well as the entry into the airspace of the country of Russian aircraft, was declared a criminal offense.

On February 24, Britain imposed sanctions against many Russian companies, including Aeroflot, Ural Airlines and Rossiya. The sanctions include freezing assets.

As a response, the Federal Air Transport Agency banned British aircraft from using Russian airspace from February 25, including for transit flights. Following a flight ban over Europe on February 28, Russia closed the skies to aircraft from 36 countries, now their air carriers need permission to fly in Russian skies.