He said that the situation with the cancellation of the Austrian Airlines flight from Vienna to Moscow on May 27 was discussed twice a day at the initiative of the Austrian colleagues.
“The crux of the matter is that the Austrian air carrier, in line with the recommendations of the EU summit, made a decision on the need to change the flight route for flights to Moscow, bypassing the airspace of Belarus,” he said.
The ambassador noted that at the moment, due to coronavirus restrictions, regular air traffic between Russia and Austria has not yet been restored.
Lyubinsky added that the flights are operated by the airlines of the two countries in the mode of charter flights with a certain frequency and on agreed routes.
“Changing them is the exclusive prerogative of the aviation authorities, any politicization is unacceptable here and, moreover, would be dangerous from the point of view of ensuring the safety of air travel and air passengers,” he said.
Lyubinsky also opposed sticking political labels without the results of the investigation into the emergency landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk.
“I fully agree with my colleagues that the soonest full-fledged normalization of the air traffic regime between Russia and Austria meets mutual interests and our common task of promoting bilateral business, humanitarian and tourist exchanges,” the ambassador said.
Earlier, the Austrian Foreign Ministry requested clarification from Russia in connection with Moscow's refusal to coordinate the planned flight of Austrian Airlines bypassing the airspace of Belarus.