The EU has closed its airspace to the Turkish airline “Southwind Airlines” controlled by a Russian company

On March 25, Finland refused permission to fly to Helsinki to Southwind Airlines. On the other hand, on March 28, the EU officially informed all member states of the bloc that Southwind Airlines planes are prohibited from flying into the EU airspace in accordance with the sanctions regulations, reports “Turizm Guncel”.

Southwind Airlines was founded in April 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which caused the EU to close its airspace to Russian aircraft. The airline’s headquarters is located in Antalya.

Southwind Airlines received part of the aircraft from the Russian airline Nordwind Airlines. It belongs to the Russian tourism company “Pegas Touristik”, which is also the owner of “Southwind Airlines”.

“Southwind Airlines” route network includes flights from Turkey to Russia, Belarus, Germany and more than ten other countries. Due to EU sanctions, the airline will have to abandon flights to Germany and Italy, as well as Switzerland, as it is surrounded by EU airspace on all sides.

“Bild” newspaper, referring to the internal information of the Polish Ministry of the Interior and the reports of the Polish security services, said that “Southwind Airlines” is involved in creating the flow of illegal migrants to Europe through Belarus and Russia, which is part of the hybrid operation of the regimes of Russia and Belarus against Western countries. including Latvia.