Southwind Airlines, registered in Turkey, has been deprived of the right to fly over the territory of the European Union. The corresponding decision was made in Brussels on March 28, it has already entered into force, Turizm Guncel reported.
The restrictions imposed on the carrier are related to EU anti-Russian sanctions, TG clarified. The European Union believes that the main share of Southwind Airlines’ ownership is allegedly located in the Russian Federation. The actual control over the airline is also not exercised by Türkiye, the association countries are sure.
“Southwind Airlines was banned from taking off, flying and landing in Europe in accordance with sanctions regulations,” the publication writes.
Turizm Güncel emphasized that the airline is now forced to cancel scheduled flights to a number of European cities. Zurich, which did not even introduce restrictions, was also blocked for the Turkish carrier.
EU denies sanctions against Turkish airline flying to Russia
Southwind Airlines was faced with a ban on flights through EU countries, because of this flights between Antalya and Kaliningrad were canceled. Brussels says it has not imposed sanctions against the carrier.
The European Union (EU) did not apply any sanctions against the Turkish airline Southwind Airlines, which faced restrictions on flights to the EU and was forced to cancel flights between Antalya and Kaliningrad against this background. RBC was informed about this by the press service of the European Commission.
“EU sanctions are adopted unanimously by member states and published in the official journal of the EU. To date, the EU has not applied any such sanctions against this company,” the department said.
The EU supports the actions of its member states aimed at ensuring a unified approach to the application of sanctions, the European Commission added.
The Turkish industry publication Turizm Guncel reported that Brussels banned Southwind Airlines flights to the EU within the framework of regulation 833/2014 (concerning restrictive measures of Russia due to the conflict in Ukraine).
Airways Magazine wrote that Finland did not allow the airline to fly into its territory because Helsinki revealed violations of European legislation by the carrier. According to Finnish aviation authorities, control of Southwind Airlines does not belong to the declared Turkish individuals and legal entities, but to Russian ones - they founded Southwind Airlines, and most of the staff and fleet were leased from the Russian Nordwind.
The Association of Tour Operators of Russia reported that the Southwind Airlines flight program to Antalya from Kaliningrad was canceled due to the ban on the carrier’s aircraft flying through the European Union. Cancellations and delays affected flights from Minsk.