The European Union has decided to close the airspace for Southend Airlines of Turkey due to suspicions about its ties with Russia.
This decision was taken as part of the sanctions imposed by the European Union against Russia. As a result, all European airspace is now closed to Southwest Airlines.
Finnish authorities, after investigating the Turkish airline Southend Airlines, were the first to stop its flights between Antalya and Helsinki.
According to Bild, the airline was founded shortly after the outbreak of war. Although officially registered in Antalya, most of its assets and personnel, including all three aircraft, were transferred from Russia's Nordind Airlines, owned by tour operator Pegas Touristik. Southwest Airlines was planning to operate flights from Turkey to German cities such as Berlin and Düsseldorf.
The imposition of restrictions led to significant delays in the departure of Russian tourists from Sharm El Sheikh as their flight was delayed for 11 hours.
Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, European countries closed their airspace to Russian planes. After that, Russian airlines faced arrests of aircraft abroad and denial of maintenance.