Air Arabia Scraps October Bookings to Russia Days After Zelenskyy's Airspace Warning

Air Arabia, a major carrier in the Middle East and Africa, has started canceling some of its Autumn flights to and from Russian regions starting in October and is offering full refunds to affected passengers.

The cancellations were reported by the Russian travel-industry portal Profi.Travel on September 9, citing representatives of Russian travel agencies.

Tatyana Smirnova, director of the Samara-based agency Aventura, noted that no official letter from the airline had yet arrived, though cancellations had already begun to surface for October bookings. A ticket-booking specialist and travel agent in Yekaterinburg confirmed that Air Arabia halted its flights on September 9 and added that a formal notice to clients would follow shortly.

The Telegram channel Baza reported similar information, indicating that tickets purchased for October had been canceled and that customers learned of it only after making inquiries. One response to a client stated that the airline had withdrawn flights from Russian regions and offered a full refund.

Air Arabia acknowledged the cancellations and assured passengers that money paid for tickets would be returned. The carrier gave no public reason for the move.

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War in Ukraine

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Founded in 2003, Air Arabia is the largest low-cost carrier in the Middle East and North Africa, operating flights to more than 170 destinations worldwide.

The reservations began disappearing a week after Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, warned air carriers and insurers about the risks of flying to Russian airports, chiefly Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other major cities. Zelenskyy stated that Kyiv's actions carried no threat to "civil aviation as such."

He added, "Drones in Russia's skies will be there, so this has to be taken into account."

The cancellations follow a wave of similar retreats by foreign carriers. Turkey's largest private airline, Pegasus Airlines, turned three Moscow-bound aircraft around mid-flight and canceled dozens of services to Russia overnight on September 2, affecting routes linking Istanbul, Antalya, Izmir, and Dalaman with Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The disruption coincided with drone threats that darkened Moscow's Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo airports for a second consecutive night in early September.

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