Latvia's AirBaltic Halts Flights From Riga To Minsk Following Ryanair Incident

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th May, 2021) Latvian flag carrier airBaltic is set to suspend flights from Riga to Minsk starting on Thursday, following Belarus-initiated diversion of a Ryanair plane that traveled from Greece to Lithuania and the consequent EU recommendation to close the Belarusian airspace.

"After receiving a decision by the Latvian government and the official recommendation from the Civil Aviation Authority of Latvia, Latvian airline airBaltic announces that it has suspended all flights from Riga to Minsk from May 27, 2021, until further notice," the company said in a statement.

According to the statement, the suspension will affect a total of 126 flights between the two capitals until late October.

The company also noted that it has already been avoiding entering Belarusian airspace since the day of the incident, Sunday, and will continue to do so until late October. The decision will reportedly affect over 1,500 airBaltic flights.

A barrage of EU airlines suspended operations in Belarusian airspace after a Ryanair passenger plane en route from Athens to Vilnius had to make an emergency landing in Minsk on Sunday over a bomb threat, which later turned out to have been false. Belarus maintains that no pressure was put on the crew to ground the plane, which carried an opposition journalist behind Belarus protests, who was arrested upon disembarking.