Overflights in Lithuania and flights to Turkey reduced due to invasion of Ukraine

Overflights in Lithuania fell by 46% daily due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a rate that corresponds to almost 200 overflights per day, according to data from the European Aviation Safety Agency, Eurocontrol.

At the same time, flights between Turkey and Russia decreased by about 30%, while a significant increase of 29% was recorded in overflights over Hungary.

In particular, according to Eurocontrol, which processed data from mid-February, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to mid-March, more than 50% of the reduction in overflights in Lithuania (110 flights per day) is due to the fact that flights to and from Russia, namely Germany, France and the United Kingdom, have stopped.

Poland and Latvia have fewer overflights for the same reason.

Flights between Turkey and Russia continue, but decreased by about 30%, the European Agency notes.

According to Eurocontrol, Lithuania has won about 18 flights a day, with airlines moving further west to avoid Belarusian airspace.

He added, however, that this limited increase for Lithuania was offset by a reduction in overflights to and from Asia, also because Belarus's airspace was closed.

Flights between Germany and China are actually increased by 10%, but European airlines operate routes to the South, via Georgia for example, and non-European airlines still using Russian airspace fly further north, passing through Estonia and Latvia and not Lithuania, which loses 25 overflights a day to and from Northeast Asia and 20 to and from South and Southeast Asia.

The remaining reduction for Lithuania is due to shorter flights, such as from Finland and Estonia to Germany, but away from the Kaliningrad enclave.

In addition, Eurocontrol reports a 29% increase in overflights in Hungary (290 per day), largely due to the re-routing of flows to Asia and the Middle East.

Finally, he notes that flights to and from Romania have increased significantly in the last month, adding about 70 flights a day to Hungary.