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https://liveandletsfly.com/air-india-banned/
Air India has been in the news this week for its unplanned mechanical diversion to Russia, but the same question applies to Gulf carriers, Chinese carriers, and any airline that utilizes Russian airspace.
Should Carriers Like Air India Or Emirates That Utilize Russian Airspace Be Banned From Serving USA?
This is not an issue with Air India alone, but in light of the diversion of AI173 to Magdan, Russia, certainly, the world was reminded that Air India continues to utilize Russian airspace on its US routes. I posed a question yesterday on Twitter much like many in the US have been asking. It was simply a question, not a policy prescription, but the tweet went viral in India and I was attacked for even entertaining the thought (including death threats in private forums).
So while not an issue that exclusively impacts Air India, I was quite surprised to see the rabid hyper-nationalism, vitriol for the USA, fervent support for Russia, denial about the atrocities against the Ukrainian people, and the most puerile effort to equivocate through the use of false equivalences. If you want some entertainment, do click on the tweet above and read some of the comments.
There are many potential approaches to this problem. One is simply to maintain the status quo and warn Americans that they assume certain risk by flying on carriers that use Russian airspace. Another is to ban the use of Russian airspace on any flight that touches or overflies the USA. A third, and more draconian, option is to ban carriers from serving the USA that utilize Russian airspace at all, since it serves as one (of many) loopholes allow Russian aggression to continue in Ukraine.
On a more theoretical level, for every action there is a reaction. The Hindu nationalists who churlishly heaped scorn on me yesterday repeatedly threatened that Air India would cancel its Boeing order if the US closed its airspace to Air India. But what if the European Union did the same thing? Is Air India going to cancel all Airbus and Boeing orders and buy Russian or Chinese jets? Good luck with that.
That said, there are serious unintended consequences that result from something like an airspace closure. Namely, there are decent people just trying to survive who become caught in the middle. Here I am talking about Indians, Russians, and Americans alike. The lack of air service not only hampers international commerce but undermines international relations between nations. There is a certain expectation that countries which are economically co-dependent are less likely to go to war (though the Russian invasion of Ukraine is certainly a counter-narrative).
On the other hand, as I saw first-hand in Ukraine during my trip in February, a sovereign nation was invaded by a stronger force on the premise of a lie. History reveals this sort of thing tragically is repeated (hello Iraq), but past aggression by the West does not in any way justify Russia’s current imperialistic aggression in Ukraine.
08/06/2023 Matthew Klint/Live and Let's Fly
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