Azerbaijan Airlines Flight Returns to Baku After Airspace Closure Over Russia’s Makhachkala

An Azerbaijan Airlines flight en route from Baku to Mineralnye Vody, Russia, returned to its home airport following reports of restricted airspace over Makhachkala, Russian media RG reported on December 27.

Flight J2-8717 returned to Baku almost immediately after departure. The aircraft commander decided to turn around immediately after receiving the notification, the airline said. The plane landed at Heydar Aliyev Airport at 10:13 local time.

Russian media suggests that pilots are increasingly reluctant to operate flights to Russia. “Everyone is talking about the incident—how the Russians not only struck our plane but also refused to let it land at their nearest airports. At least, that’s the prevailing explanation among the pilot community. How can anyone guarantee this won’t happen again? No one wants to take the risk,” cite the pilots one of the Russian sources.

Earlier, Azerbaijan Airlines announced the suspension of flights from Baku to several Russian cities, including Mineralnye Vody, Sochi, Volgograd, Ufa, Samara, Grozny, and Makhachkala, effective December 28.

The decision was made taking into account the results of the preliminary investigation into the Embraer 190 crash, that killed 38 people. The flights were suspended based on the decision of the State Civil Aviation Agency of Azerbaijan.

In addition, Israeli airline El Al temporarily halted flights between Tel Aviv and Moscow, citing concerns about recent developments in Russian airspace.