Database of the Russian Airlines that Flew to the Occupied Crimea in December 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 December 2017.
VP-BBT, Airbus A319-112, Rossiya Airlines. Photo: Michael Pavlotski, planespotters.net
In December of this year, 1512 flights went to and from the airport of Simferopol. Last year the number was 1550. The largest number of December flights to and from the occupied Crimea took place in 2014, amounting to 2028, while 2015 saw the total 1800 to and from Simferopol.
Passenger trafic to the occupied peninsula was carried out exclusively by the Russian airlines, namely: Aeroflot, Ural Airlines, Rossiya, Globus, Yamal, UVT, Red Wings, Nordwind Airlines and NordAvia.
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.
In the last days of 2017, Russian air carriers supplied the Simferopol airport trafic with additional flights for the holiday period.
The Dynamics of the Passenger Flights to and from
the Simferopol Airport in December 2014-2017
/Новый рисунок.bmp)
In late December, the peninsula's occupation authorities announced the new terminal of Simferopol airport had been erected. The inside and outside construction work and the area landscaping will continue in 2018, the year when the terminal is supposed to start operation. Once functional, the terminal would be able to serve 6.5 million passengers/year, while at present, the airport serves only 5 million.
/Simferopol international airport 18 12 2017 facebook(2).jpg)
New terminal of Simferopol Airport on December 18, 2017. Photo: Simferopol Airport official account on Facebook
In December 2017, nine Russian air carriers flew to the occupied Crimea's airport. For flights to Simferopol, Globus Airlines, a subsidiary of the S7 Airlines, uses the S7 Group* aircrafts.
|
Aeroflot |
ІАТА SU Destinations: US, EU, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Asia, Baltics, UK, Middle East, the CIS countries |
|
Rossiya |
ІАТА FV Destinations: Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, UK, Italy, France, Czech Republic, Тurkey, Bulgaria, Egypt, Іzrael, the CIS countries |
|
Ural Airlines |
ІАТА U6 Destinations: Кazakhstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Spain, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, UAE, Тajikistan, Armenia, Greece, Italy, Czech Republic, China, Finland, Іsrael, Georgia |
|
Globus |
ІАТА GH Destinations: Domestic |
|
S7 Airlines* |
ІАТА S7 Destinations: International |
|
Red Wings |
ІАТА WZ Destinations: Austria, Montenegro, Finland, Balkan, Egypt and Mediterranean countries |
|
NordAvia |
IATA 5N Destinations: domestic |
|
Nordwind Airlines |
ІАТА N4 Destinations: Charter flights to Jordan, Thailand, Cuba, Vietnam, Mexico, Tunisia, Dominical Republic, Israel |
|
Yamal |
IATA YC Destinations: Turkey, Armenia, Greece, Montenegro, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Sweden |
|
UVT |
ІАТА UW Destinations: domestic |
* * *
The Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies, BSNews and Maidan of Foreign Affairs monitoring group also regularly monitors the subsequent movement of aircrafts that illegally fly to the occupied Crimea. We 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. Previous monitoring results can be found in the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies, 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:
|
RA89024 |
SS 100-95B |
SU2801 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-AER |
Moscow-Riga(Latvia) |
|
RA89027 |
SS100-95B |
SU2801 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-AER |
Moscow-Zagreb(Croatia) |
|
RA89046 |
SS100-95B |
SU2801 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-AER |
Moscow-Tallinn(Estonia) |
|
VP-BBT |
Airbus |
SU/FV6892 |
Rossiya |
SIP-LED |
LED-Munich(Germany) |
|
VP-BCG |
Boeing |
SU1625 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Barcelona(Spain) |
|
VP-BUS |
Boeing |
SU6146 |
Rossiya |
SIP-VKO |
- |
|
VP-BWW |
Airbus |
WZ308 |
Red Wings |
SIP-DME |
- |
|
VP-BLH |
Airbus |
SU1637 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Stockholm(Sweden) |
|
VP-BWY |
Airbus |
WZ308 |
Red Wings |
SIP-DME |
LED-Eilat(Israel) |
|
VP-BTO |
Airbus |
SU1621 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Dusseldorf(Germany) |
|
VP-BGH |
Airbus |
N4524 |
Nordwind Airlines |
SIP-SVO |
- |
|
VQ-BPW |
Airbus |
SU1621 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Berlin(Germany) |
|
VQ-BCZ |
Airbus |
U62832 |
Ural Airlines |
SIP-DME |
LED-Tel Aviv(Israel) |
|
VQ-BOZ |
Airbus |
U62842 |
Ural Airlines |
SIP-DME |
Moscow-Antalya(Turkey) |
|
VQ-BRR |
Boeing |
S7/GH262 |
S7 Airlines / Globus |
SIP-DME |
Moscow-Verona(Italy) |
|
VQ-BCN |
Airbus |
SU1637 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Riga(Lithuania) |
|
VQ-BOE |
Airbus |
N4134 |
Nordwind Airlines |
SIP-SVO |
- |
|
VQ-BVV |
Boeing |
SU6148 |
Rossiya |
SIP-VKO |
- |
|
VP-BRD |
Airbus |
N4124 |
Nordwind Airlines |
SIP-SVO |
- |
|
VQ-BIV |
Airbus |
SU1631 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Berlin(Germany) |
|
VP-BLP |
Airbus |
SU1637 |
Aeroflot |
SIP-SVO |
Moscow-Valencia(Spain) |
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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