Database of the Russian Airlines that Flew to the Occupied Crimea in November 2017
Olha KORBUT
Expert of the monitoring group of the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies, BSNews and Maidan of Foreign Affairs
Translated by Tetyana PUCHKOVA
The monitoring group of the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies, BSNews and Maidan of Foreign Affairs has summed up the results of monitoring Russian airlines’ illegal flights to the occupied Crimea in November 2017.
Russia’s Aeroflot Airbus A320-214, registration #VQ-BSE. Photo: Max Grechnyov
In November of this year, 1424 flights went to and from the airport of Simferopol, which is a quarter less than over the same period in 2014, the first year of the occupation.
Last year the number was 1398. The largest number of November flights to and from the occupied Crimea took place in 2015, amounting to 2048, while 2014 saw the total 1894 to and from Simferopol.
The comparative chart below shows changes in the frequency of air travel during the occupation. Unsurprisingly, the peak number of flights fell on 2015. Moscow and St.Petersburg remain the most popular destinations, while there is also one daily flight to Sochi and Rostov and several flights a week to Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Tyumen.
Among the airlines that continue to carry out illegal flights to the occupied Crimea as of November 2017 are: Aeroflot, Rossiya, Ural Airlines, Globus, Yamal, UVT, Red Wings, Nordwind Airlines, NordAvia. Globus, the subsidiary company of S7 Group, uses aircrafts of S7 Airlines to perform regular flights to Simferopol.
The Dynamics of the Passenger Flights to and from
the Simferopol Airport in November 2014-2017
* * *
The BSNews and Maidan of Foreign Affairs monitoring group also regularly monitors the subsequent movement of aircrafts that illegally fly to the occupied Crimea, and can confirm that a number of them also provide passenger traffic to the European countries that have condemned the Russian annexation of Crimea. The database of those aircrafts is being continuously updated and expanded. The previous monitoring results can be found in the BSNews and the Maidan of Foreign Affairs monthly air traffic reviews.
The table below details the European flights by the Russian airlines that regularly fly to the Simferopol airport:
| Aircraft # | Model | Flight # to/ from SIP |
Airlines | Flight to/ from SIP |
Flight to EU/USA/ other countries |
|
VQ-BOB |
Airbus |
U6522 |
Ural Airlines |
SIP-DME |
Moscow-Antalya(Turkey) |
|
VQ-BVL |
Boeing |
S7/GH262 |
S7 Airlines/ |
SIP-DME |
Moscow-Tivat(Montenegro) |
|
RA-89025 |
Sukhoi Superjet |
SU2801 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-AER |
Stockholm(Sweden)-Moscow |
|
VP-BKX |
Airbus |
SU1625 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Thessaloniki(Greece) |
|
VP-BQK |
Airbus |
SU/FV6892 |
Aeroflot / Rossiya |
SIP-LED |
LED-Rome(Italy) |
|
VP-BOB |
Boeing |
SU/FV6146 |
Rossiya |
SIP-VKO |
Ufa-Pardubice(Czech Republic) |
|
VP-BMD |
Boeing |
SU1645 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Vienna(Austria) |
|
VQ-BNI |
Airbus |
U6522 |
Ural Airlines |
SIP-DME |
Krasnodar-Larnaca(Cyrpus) |
|
VP-BYX |
Boeing |
N4134 |
Nordwind Airlines |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Antalya(Turkey) |
|
VQ-BQN |
Airbus |
U62842 |
Ural Airlines |
SIP-DME |
Sochi-Tbilisi(Georgia) |
|
RA-89041 |
Sukhoi Superjet 100-95B |
SU2801 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-AER |
Moscow-Oslo(Norway) |
|
VP-BQD |
Boeing |
S7/GH3328 |
S7 Airlines |
SIP-OVB |
Moscow-Chisinau(Moldova) |
|
VQ-BGI |
Airbus |
U62932 |
Ural Airlines |
SIP-SVX |
LED-Tbilisi(Georgia) |
|
VQ-BRV |
Airbus |
SU1637 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Warsaw(Poland) |
|
VQ-BEH |
Airbus |
SU1637 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Lyon(France) |
|
VP-BTC |
Airbus |
SU1637 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Berlin(Germany) |
|
VQ-BAY |
Airbus |
SU1631 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Helsinki(Finland) |
|
VP-BQU |
Airbus |
SU1637 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Lyon(France) |
|
VP-BZQ |
Airbus |
SU1637 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Paris(France) |
Note:
In December 2014 the administration of the US President Barack Obama has adopted a number of decisions regarding the sanctions for any action in the occupied Crimea.
In April of the same year, in accordance with the ICAO Convention on International Civil Aviation, the Eurocontrol (the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation), banned the European airlines from flying to the Russia-occupied Crimea and Sevastopol. [1].
Ukraine officially accused [2] Russia of violation of the international multilateral and bilateral agreements and the provisions of the European Air Navigation Plan, as well as in ignoring the established borders of the Flight Information Regions (FIR) [3].
The Air Navigation Services in the sky over the Crimean Peninsula belong to the jurisdiction to Ukraine that due to the Russian annexation of the Crimean AR had to move the dispatch center from Simferopol to Kyiv and Odessa.
However, due to the inability of the State Avia Service to guarantee security of the Ukraine flights over the occupied territories, in March 2014, it was decided to close the airports in Simferopol and Belbek and the lower airspace and to restrict traffic in Simferopol flight information region.
At the same time, Ukraine continues to service the Black Sea FIR within its competence.
In April 2014, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) called Russia's actions to seize control of the airspace above Crimea and the Black Sea waters that belong to the Ukrainian FIR, illegal [4].
[1] The ban of the flights to the occupied Crimea for European airlines: http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/198796.html
[2] Announcement of the SE "UkrAeroRukh" of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine: http://uksatse.ua/index.php?act=Part&CODE=247&id=264
[3] The FIR (Flight Information Region) is a specified region of airspace in which a flight information service and an alerting service are provided
[4] The publication in the online edition of the Tyzhden magazine from 16.04.2014 http://tyzhden.ua/News/107719
For two and a half years, the BSNews and Maidan of Foreign Affairs monitoring group conducts daily monitoring of the illegal flights to the occupied Crimea followed by the media publications of the results of the investigation on the airlines-offenders.
* * *
For the last two and a half years, the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies, BSNews and Maidan of Foreign Affairs monitoring group has been conducting daily monitoring of the illegal flights to the occupied Crimea with further publications in the media on the airlines offenders.
* * *
The monitoring of the violations of the international sanctions against Russia and the legal regime of the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea is supported by the European Program Initiative of the Renaissance International Foundation. The position of Renaissance International Foundation may not reflect the opinion of the authors.
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