Air China, China Southern appear to avoid south Russia after deadly Azerbaijani crash
Flights to Georgia and Hungary seem to avoid Russia’s Dagestan region after plane carrying 67 allegedly shot down by Russian air defence
China is among the few countries still using Russian airspace for civilian flights since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
However, flights between western China’s Urumqi and Georgian capital Tbilisi have circumvented southwest Russia’s Dagestan region since an Azerbaijan Airlines came down on Christmas Day, according to tracking data from Flightradar24.
Flights operated by China Southern Airlines and Air China since December 26 flew into Georgian air space through Azerbaijan after crossing the Caspian Sea, and took the same route back, the data showed.
Changes were also seen in China Southern flights connecting Hungarian capital Budapest to Guangzhou in south China.
Instead of passing through the Dagestan region towards Hungary after crossing the Caspian Sea, China Southern planes in the past week have flown across central and western Russia before flying south to reach Budapest – a route that the airline sometimes took even before the crash.
