(Bloomberg) -- Russian airlines were barred from flying through more countries in Europe, shutting off carriers such as Aeroflot from the shortest routes heading west. 

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia prohibited Russian planes from landing or overflying their airspace on Saturday. 

They joined Poland, Bulgaria, Moldova, the Czech Republic and the U.K., which had already issued similar declarations in the wake of Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. 

Together with a no-fly zone in and around the area of conflict, Saturday’s moves wall off Russian carriers, forcing them to head north toward Finland or south as far as Turkey to get to countries such as France or the Netherlands.

Russia retaliated, cutting off its airspace to Romanian, Polish, Czech and Bulgarian operators, adding to the list of airlines facing longer flights and higher fuel costs heading east. British Airways was already affected after the U.K. was barred by Moscow on Friday. 

The situation has echoes of the Cold War, when Western carriers weren’t able to cross Siberia on their way to Japan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea for some decades. On Friday, flights between the U.K. and India were already being forced to take circuitous routes.

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Repercussions for carriers were quickly stacking up. Three planes from Germany, including two passenger jets operated by Lufthansa AG, appeared to turn around in Russian airspace, according to ADS-B Exchange, which tracks aircraft.

No Guarantee

Two jets operated by Dutch carrier KLM had to turn around on their way to Moscow and St. Petersburg. The airline, owned by Air France-KLM, cited new European Union sanctions barring aircraft parts being sent to Russia, even for its own planes.   

“This means KLM can no longer guarantee that flights to Russia can return safely,” the airline said Saturday. 

On Friday, Delta Air Lines Inc. suspended a marketing agreement with Aeroflot, Russia’s national airline.

Russian carrier S7 canceled flights to most of the 16 West European cities it serves, including Paris, Milan and Barcelona, through March 13. Latvia’s AirBaltic did the same for service to Russia through March 26, citing “increased risk and imposed restrictions.” 

A total of 24 passenger flights usually operate between the U.K. and Russia each week, based on planned schedules for the past seven days, according to aviation data provider Cirium. Of those, two-thirds are with Aeroflot, with the rest flown by British Airways.

Limited Pain

For now, the long-haul diversions will cause U.K. carriers like BA and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. limited pain, since Covid-19 restrictions in Asia mean there are few flights operating. Passenger service to Hong Kong had been paused through mid-March because of the pandemic, Virgin said Friday.

Altogether, there were about 2,000 flights scheduled from Europe to Asia for the week starting March 1, based on BloombergNEF data. While that’s below pre-Covid levels, Singapore and Japan are starting to ease travel barriers, even if China and Hong Kong remain essentially closed.

“The impact for us is not huge because right now we are only flying to a small number of destinations in Asia and we can reroute our flights,” Luis Gallego, chief executive officer BA parent IAG SA, said Friday.

The impact would widen if EU were to follow the lead of the U.K. and countries in central and eastern Europe. That would draw carriers such as Air France and Deutsche Lufthansa AG into more disruptions.

The idea of an airspace ban hadn’t come up in official discussions, but nothing is completely off the table, an EU diplomat said Friday, asking not to be named on confidential deliberations.

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