The European Union has added two airlines, one from Egypt and another from Turkey to its blacklist due to their alleged connections with Russia. As part of the sanctions resulting from the invasion of Ukraine, the European Union does not permit aircraft registered in Russia or from companies of that country to fly in its airspace.
According to our affiliate site AEROIN, the latest sanctions have targeted Air Cairo, based in Egypt, and Southwind Airlines, from Turkey. These airlines are prohibited from flying within European airspace. Suspicions of ties with Russia arose with Southwind, established in April 2022, shortly after the invasion began. Finnish authorities, who received flight requests between Antalya, Turkey, and Helsinki, began investigating the company.
The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, also known as TRAFICOM, subsequently denied it permission to operate in its airspace. According to the agency, the airline was founded by Russian citizens and has leased most of its staff and fleet from Nordwind Airlines, a Russian airline banned from entering the EU airspace.
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Southwind Airlines responded promptly. In a statement, the airline commented: “Following Finland’s unjustified complaint to the European Union, we were prohibited from operating in European airspace due to alleged connections with Russia, without specific evidence or justification. The accusations were not investigated, and the ban was imposed without the right to defense. This is an entirely unfair, biased, rumor-based, and malicious practice. We believe the decision is political. We have initiated legal action.”
There were also indications that Nordwind’s owner, Pegas Touristik, would be a shareholder of Air Cairo using a shell company called 360 Investments. The other shareholder is the Egyptian national airline, Egypt Air.
