Difficult to operate on some European flights of airlines Change route to avoid over Russia

Following Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, airlines operate European flights on routes that make a big roundabout avoiding the restricted flight over Russia.

Operating hours are longer than usual and fuel costs are high, and there are concerns that if the situation continues for a long time, it will not be possible to easily travel between Europe.

Partially operated by routes avoiding over Russia Japanese airlines

After Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, European airlines have been restricted from flying over Russia, and Japanese airlines have also stopped flying to avoid risk.

The impact was on flights connecting European countries with routes over Russia.

Initially, all flights were canceled, but Japanese airlines started some flights on routes that avoid over Russia in an attempt to secure routes as much as possible.

Japan Airlines Alaska Anchorage northbound route revival

Of these, Japan Airlines operates flights to London and Helsinki, Finland, on the "northbound route" that passes over Anchorage, Alaska.

Similarly, during the Cold War, when it was not possible to fly over Soviet at that time, Anchorage established a branch office as an important base for operating European flights, operating passenger flights until 1991 and freight flights until 2010.

Since it is an unfamiliar route that has been revived for the first time in 30 years on passenger flights, the department that makes the flight plan may take 4 to 5 hours to do the work that normally takes about 30 minutes, and there is a risk of disaster such as volcanic eruption. We carefully plan by understanding the unique circumstances of the region, such as the area where military exercises are held.

In addition, pilots gathered before the flight and checked the weather conditions on the route and the characteristics of the airports in each country to be used for emergency landing while looking at the route map.

Japan Airlines Captain Kiyoji Segawa said, "Because it will be an unprecedented way of flying, I would like to combine everyone's experience and wisdom to improve teamwork and complete safe operation."

All Nippon Airways struggles to manage crew members due to increased flight times on Central Asia routes

All Nippon Airways, on the other hand, operates flights to Frankfurt, Germany, and Brussels, Belgium, on the "Central Asia Route" that passes over Turkey.

We are increasing the number of pilots with limited flight times from three to four, as flight times are up to four hours longer than regular routes over Russia.

Moreover, it is not possible for any pilot to have a piloting qualification for each model, and the department that creates shifts is busy dealing with it.

On this day, I was looking for an additional flight to Frankfurt five days later, and asked the pilot who was planning to fly to Vancouver, Canada to change it immediately and obtained consent.

Mr. Yoshie Yamabe of ANA said, "The work in March has been almost remade. I have a hard time adjusting, but I have to find a crew to protect the flight and make shifts." ..

Europe will be far away Fuel costs will increase and fare will increase if it is prolonged

There are currently four European flights operated by Japanese airlines.

It is halved from the previous 8 routes.

Due to the significant increase in flight hours and the difficulty of managing the physical condition of pilots, we have not been able to resume operations such as passenger flights to Paris, France.

Furthermore, according to ANA and Japan Airlines officials, the problem of fuel costs, which is increased due to the extended operating distance, is also serious, and each company has left the fare unchanged so far, but if the situation persists, we will have to consider raising the price. It means that you can't get it.

In the future, even if the spread of the new corona infection is settled and restrictions on traffic to and from each country are relaxed, there are concerns that it will not be possible to easily travel to and from Europe, and each company is taking a tailwind to save fuel as much as possible. We are developing easy routes.