Originally Posted by
KRviator
IT isn't about the risk of being attacked I was thinking, that the economic cost, ie if EASA bans Russian overflights, etc, then, well, Russian airspace is a major thoroughfare for a lot of Asia-Europe type flights, even QF9 now out of Darwin spends a significant portion over Russian territory. Would Russia in turn close their airspace to everyone who has locked Aeroflot out, thus forcing QF and others into a long-winded route via the Middle East or SE Asia with additional fuel, landing fees etc?
If that’s the case in 5 days they can operate unrestricted through Perth, the city they want to operate through and the one they’ll eventually be operating through in 3 months anyway, flying over the now safe area of the Middle East and Southern Europe to LHR and FCO, well away from the Ukraine and Russian airspace. The great circle track from Perth only comes close to some parts of the Black Sea, but they can just make a very minor diversion to the south to stay over Turkey, or stay well south and go over Saudi then Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean. Plenty of airlines flying these tracks on FR24 right now.