Russia Asks President Trump To Reopen Airspace, Restore Flights

The Russian government is asking President Trump to lift the ban that has been in place on flights between the United States and Russia for the past three years, as flagged by PYOK. That’s not to say that anything will come of this in the immediate future, but the request as such is interesting…

Russia wants to resume flights to United States

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has announced the details of a meeting that took place in Istanbul on February 27, 2025, between Director of the Foreign Ministry Department of North America, Alexander Darchiev, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Sonata Coulter.

As it’s described, the discussions centered around normalizing relations between the United States and Russia, to overcome “numerous irritants inherited from previous US administrators” (their words, not mine… obviously). Here’s the most interesting detail, as it impacts aviation:

The necessity of achieving tangible outcomes to foster conditions conducive to improving bilateral relations, in the interests of both nations, was underscored. In particular, the American side was encouraged to consider the restoration of direct air service between the two countries.

The discussions proceeded in a substantive and business-like manner, with both parties agreeing to continue dialogue through this channel.

As you can see, the Russian government is hoping to see the restoration of flights to the United States. In early 2022, we of course saw many countries impose sanctions against Russia, following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Dozens of countries closed their airspace to Russian airlines, and we also saw trade embargoes put in place, making it hard for Russian airlines to buy aircraft and parts from US and European companies.

As a result of this, Russia ended up imposing reciprocal restrictions, whereby they banned many airlines from their own airspace. That’s perhaps most significant in terms of overflight rights, given the importance of Russian airspace for connecting east and west.

What would the implications of this be, anyway?

Even before sanctions were put in place, no US airlines flew to Russia. Rather, the only airline flying between the two countries was Aeroflot. So when it comes to wanting to restore air service between the two countries, clearly this would just be about allowing Russian carriers to fly to the United States.

Presumably if the US opened its airspace to Russia, then that would be made reciprocal, meaning that US carriers could once again use Russian airspace as well. That’s useful for some flights to India and North Asia. For that matter, I’m sure Russia desperately wants the revenue it got from allowing flights through its airspace, since the country charged dearly for the privilege.

While not explicitly addressed, I have to imagine that a major aspect of wanting to ease relations would also be to get access to new aircraft, as well as parts for existing aircraft. Russia’s aviation sector has really been struggling, given the country’s inability to buy parts directly from manufacturers.

It’s interesting that the meeting with these discussions took place one day before Ukranian President Zelenskyy visited the White House, and we saw a pretty rough exchange between him and President Trump and Vice President Vance.

Bottom line

The Russian government is asking the United States to lift the flight bans that have been in place since early 2022, following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia wants to undo the “irritants” inherited from the previous administration, and is hoping to see nonstop flights between the two countries again. Presumably Russia would also like access to US aircraft and parts, but I imagine that would be a next step.

How do you see this playing out?