Quick summary
A Europe–Central Asia flight that shows as six hours on the schedule can behave like an eight- to nine-hour journey once the southern detour and the connection are counted. European operators are still advised to avoid Russian airspace at any altitude west of 60°E, and the geography now pushes most viable itineraries through a narrow corridor south of it.
Operating conditions can shift by carrier, season and security situation, so the picture holds only while the current advisory does. This covers the dated sequence of the closures and the itineraries that absorb the extra hours.
EASA revised its conflict-zone bulletin for Russian airspace on 24 July 2026. For anyone booking from a European airport toward Central Asia, the northern track is unavailable. The surviving route bends south over Turkey, the Caucasus and, at times, the Middle East. That is how the Russian airspace restriction reaches Europe–Asia flight delays in 2026.
The corridor through Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan now absorbs a rising share of what remains of the Europe–Asia path.
Timeline of the airspace closures
The advisory has an expiry date. The southbound reroutes built around it have already settled into a pattern.
- 24 July 2026 EASA revises its conflict-zone bulletin for Russian airspace, the version that governs European operators today.
- 31 January 2027 The bulletin’s stated validity end.
- Now London–Tokyo, Frankfurt–Seoul and Paris–Bangkok fly southern corridors over Turkey, the Caucasus and at times the Middle East.
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Who is affected by the detours
Travelers with a connection lose most. Industry reporting puts a London–Tokyo sector that once ran about 12 hours at 14–16 hours today, and the stretch lands hardest on itineraries already carrying an onward flight.
Connection risk is the second cost. Tighter routings built on pre-sanctions block times leave less slack at the transfer point, so longer flying time is not the only thing working against an onward flight.
Where the traffic lands is the third factor. Southbound reroutes funnel into a single major transfer point. For a Kyrgyzstan-bound trip, the same filter applies to flight options to Kyrgyzstan from Europe, which are best judged on where the connection sits rather than on total elapsed time alone.
The penalty is not uniform across the map. On a route that already uses a southern detour, the extra-hours effect shrinks: what a traveler loses depends on origin, destination and where the connection sits, not on the headline average.
The corridor also underpins the routings appearing on Europe–India bookings, where connecting through Tashkent or Baku replaces a nonstop European departure.
Lock the corridor before you book
The current EASA bulletin sets the planning window. Within it, the connection has to work with the southern route.
- Check the bulletin first. EASA’s conflict-zone guidance for Russian airspace sets the routing frame for European operators, and the current version runs to 31 January 2027.
- Refuse the Russian track. An itinerary overflying Russian airspace west of 60°E runs against that guidance, whatever the fare looks like.
- Route through Istanbul. On Europe–Central Asia trips the southbound corridor concentrates there, making it the transfer point with the widest set of workable connections.
- Leave a longer buffer. These detours eat into connection times built on pre-sanctions schedules, so a layover that looks comfortable on paper may not stay that way.
For travel within that window, plan on southern-corridor assumptions rather than pre-2022 timings.
Reporting by
Questions? Answers.
Which countries have closed airspace today?
Russia is the main overflight risk covered here, given the EASA advisory and the wider sanctions picture. Ukraine’s airspace remains closed to civil flights because of the war, and the two closures shape different legs of the same journey.
Which airlines still use Russian airspace?
EASA continues to advise EU operators to stay out of western Russian airspace. Carriers on other registers decide for themselves, so the real answer hangs on nationality, route and the permissions an individual airline holds rather than on one global rule.
Can you still fly to Russia from the UK?
Expect routing caveats and sanctions-related risk instead of normal Europe–Russia connectivity. A direct UK–Russia booking can be constrained commercially as well as operationally, so treat any availability you see as provisional until the ticket is issued.
Why does Istanbul matter so much for Europe–Central Asia trips?
The southern detours narrow the number of usable transfer points between Europe and Central Asia, and Istanbul is the busiest of the few that sit inside that corridor. It also means the connecting options on a Central Asia itinerary are more concentrated than they look.
