Russia (East) Airspace
FIRs: UNKL, UNNN (Siberia) · UHHH (Far-East) · UHMM, UHPT (Pacific) · Last updated: April 2026
Current Status
Eastern Russian airspace — spanning Siberia, the Far East, and the North Pacific — remains open for operations by Russian carriers and by operators of states not subject to reciprocal airspace closure. Since the February 2022 EU/US/UK/Canada sanctions and Russia's counter-measures, carriers from the European Union, United Kingdom, Norway, Canada, United States, Japan, South Korea, and Australia cannot operate through these FIRs on Europe–East Asia trunk routes.
Carriers that continue to use the corridor include Aeroflot, S7, Rossiya (on domestic sectors), Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan, Air India, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, and some Gulf and Central Asian operators. The commercial effect is a persistent block-time and cost advantage for permitted carriers on Europe–East Asia O&Ds.
GNSS interference has been reported intermittently across eastern Russian FIRs, though the effect is less documented in publicly available sources than in the European Russia / Kaliningrad area. Operators continuing to use the corridor report a mature operational profile.
Primary FIRs
Central Siberian FIR. Key corridor for Europe–Asia overflights and for Russian long-haul sectors to the Far East.
Southern Siberian FIR. Significant transit volume to Central and East Asia via permitted carriers.
Eastern Siberian / Far-East FIR covering the North Pacific transit region. Handles traffic toward Japan and Korea via permitted corridors.
North-Eastern Pacific FIR. Relevant for trans-Pacific traffic using the Kamchatka-adjacent airways.
Kamchatka peninsula and adjacent Pacific waters. Lower traffic volume; relevant for some trans-Pacific routings.
Who Still Operates Through Eastern Russian Airspace?
| Carrier group | Status |
|---|---|
| Russian carriers | Full access (domestic operations) |
| Chinese carriers | Full access |
| Indian carriers | Full access |
| Gulf carriers (EK, EY, QR, GF) | Full access |
| Turkish Airlines | Access retained |
| EU / UK / NO carriers | Prohibited |
| US / CA carriers | Prohibited |
| JAL, ANA, KE, OZ | Prohibited |
Downstream Effects
- ›Competitive asymmetry. Chinese and Gulf carriers enjoy shorter block times and lower fuel burn on Europe–East Asia routes than their Western counterparts, a structural advantage of 1–3 hours per rotation.
- ›Shift to polar routings. Western carriers moved to polar and southern alternatives. See polar Europe–East Asia routes.
- ›Cargo market reshaping. East–West air cargo between Europe and East Asia concentrates increasingly on Chinese and Gulf carriers for transit efficiency.
- ›Hub-network restructuring. Hubs that built strategy on Russian overflight — notably Helsinki — have had to rebuild connectivity around partner codeshares. See the Finnair case study.
Related
Reference only. Access to Russian airspace is governed by bilateral agreements and state-level sanctions regimes. Operators must verify permissions through their own regulatory channels. See Terms of Service.