Korean carriers stop going to Moscow

Korean Air Lines and Asiana Airlines' planes are stationed at Incheon International Airport. [YONHAP]

Korean Air Lines will temporarily stop flights to Moscow and Asiana Airlines will stop refueling there.

Both are doing it because of the impossibility of getting fuel in Moscow.

Korean Air Lines is the only local carrier that operates passenger flights between Incheon to Moscow, which it does every Thursday. The weekly flights will be suspended this week and next.

Korean planes are still permitted to fly in Russian skies. The decision was made because aircraft can’t refuel in Moscow. Companies there are having trouble sourcing jet fuel due to sanctions imposed on Russia due to its Ukraine invasion.

The carrier’s fortnightly Incheon-Vladivostok passenger flights will fly as scheduled, on March 8 and 22.

Korean Air also runs cargo planes between Incheon and Frankfurt and Amsterdam, both stopping to refuel in Moscow. Each of those cargo routes is twice a week, but they stopped refueling in Moscow on Sunday and will continue to do so until March 18. The aircraft will carry more fuel, sacrificing cargo space available on the aircraft.

Asiana Airlines is taking similar measures.

It doesn’t operate passenger flights to Moscow or Vladivostok, but runs cargo flights to London and Frankfurt seven days a week. On both routes, the planes refuel in Moscow, which they will stop doing, carrying more fuel.

Both carriers said they have no plans to reroute flights to avoid Russian skies. With Brent crude trading at $139.13 as of Sunday, up 18 percent compared to the previous trading day, detours are expected to cost companies a lot.

Russia has banned many nations from flying in its airspace, including Finland, Canada and France, and flights from those countries to Korea have been either taking longer routes or been cancelled. Finnair’s passenger and cargo flights from Helsinki to Incheon were temporarily suspended from Feb. 27 to March 6 due to the closure of Russian airspace. The carrier said it will announce whether it will continue to suspend flights or use a detoured route on Monday.

Lufthansa flights from Munich to Incheon used to fly over Moscow, but are using detours.

Shares of Korean Air Lines fell 3.5 percent to 27,550 won ($22.46) on Monday and Asiana Airlines' fell 3.26 percent to 17,800 won.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]