Route query BKK-LHR
Last night I travelled on Thai Airways TG916 from BKK to LHR and on take off we followed the Eva Air BR067, both flights are a 777-3ER.
The Thai flight arrived at LHR 16 mins before the Eva according to flightradar which surprised me.
On looking at their routes the Eva went from Baku-Bucharest-Prague-Antwerp whilst the TG went on a more northerly route vias Minsk-Vilnius-North of Berlin and feet wet at The Hague.
Why would two airlines with the same timings and same aircraft use different routes, is it because Eva are a Taiwanese airline and they are not allowed to use Russian airspace?
I appreciate the Ukraine factor still comes into play but surely BR would want to use the quickest/shortest routing.
TIA