Originally Posted by
pattern_is_full
First, maybe - probably not last. And Emirates (and Chinese airlines) may well get the same treatment soon, for paying Russian (or Iranian) fees in violation of the economic sanctions there.
Partly pressure from US airlines that ARE obeying the sanctions, and therefore at a competitive disadvantage (longer (and more expensive) routes, fewer flights, and lower pax load factors to allow the longer flight routes when circumventing the sanctioned countries' airspace).
US airlines are not obeying the sanctions. They are banned from Russian airspace. Quite different, isn't it? And it is the USA who started airspace ban game first, not the Russians. US airlines are only to complain about their own government actions.