British airlines have been banned from landing at Russia's airports and from crossing its airspace, the Russian civil aviation regulator has said.

Russia said the move was a response to "the unfriendly decisions by the UK aviation authorities".

On Thursday, the UK banned Russia's national airline Aeroflot from landing in Britain.

The measure was part of sanctions introduced following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told ITV: "I think that's their retaliation for us yesterday banning Aeroflot from using and landing in the United Kingdom. That's their tit for tat response."

Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia said: "This measure was taken in accordance with the provisions of the Intergovernmental Air Services Agreement between Russia and the UK as a response to unfriendly decisions by the UK aviation authorities regarding the restriction on regular flights of aircraft owned, leased or operated by a person associated with Russia or registered in Russia."

British Airways said in a statement it was notifying customers on cancelled services and would offer full refunds.

"We apologise for the inconvenience but this is clearly a matter beyond our control," the airline said.

"We will continue to monitor the situation closely."

British Airways normally operates three flights per week each way between London and Moscow.

Following Russia's announcement, Virgin Atlantic also said flight paths had been adjusted for some of its services between the UK, Pakistan and India. Flight times on these routes will be extended by between 15 minutes and an hour.

Virgin Atlantic apologised for the delays, adding: "The safety and security of our customers and people always comes first and we're monitoring the situation in Ukraine and Russia extremely carefully following the escalation of conflict."

Tracking data from Flightradar24 showed BA and Virgin Atlantic between Delhi, Islamabad and London are taking southern routes to avoid Russian airspace.

Nonpartisan1:
At the end of the day Russia will become a pariah state cut off from the rest the world. His people will revolt when economic sanctions start weighing in.

Putin will never come out of this war the same again.

omenkaLives:
This wahala still long.

An eye for an eye, they say. Sadly, this is one of the ways this situation would affect unintended victims as the politicians keep bickering back and forth over a situation that could be brought to an amicable end in a matter of days if they want to.

Passengers will now have to pay more as airlines make changes to their normal routes, unavoidably increasing the lengths of travels, a situation that would no doubt impact flight rates and all that.

Shit's come to a state of "who blinks first". I'm suspecting Europe would.

omenkaLives:
This wahala still long.

An eye for an eye, they say. Sadly, this is one of the ways this situation would affect unintended victims as the politicians keep bickering back and forth over a situation that could be brought to an amicable end in a matter of days if they want to.

Passengers will now have to pay more as airlines make changes to their normal routes, unavoidably increasing the lengths of travels, a situation that would no doubt impact flight rates and all that.

Shit's come to a state of "who blinks first". I'm suspecting Europe would.

Nonpartisan1:


Anyway, just confirmed that this a FAKE NEWS! Kindly ignore the op

ManirBK:
we need to invade one country here in Africa just to make the world knows our capabilities as the giant of Africa.

Nonpartisan1:
At the end of the day Russia will become a pariah state cut off from the rest of the world. His people will revolt when all these economic sanctions by the West start weighing in.

Putin will never come out of this war the same again.

Nonpartisan1:


Anyway, just confirmed that this a FAKE NEWS! Kindly ignore the op

Nonpartisan1:


Anyway, just confirmed that this a FAKE NEWS! Kindly ignore the op

omenkaLives:
Actually, it is not.

ManirBK:
we need to invade one country here in Africa just to make the world knows our capabilities as the giant of Africa.

BloomingDale:


Ghana will be the perfect target.

Nonpartisan1:
At the end of the day Russia will become a pariah state cut off from the rest of the world. His people will revolt when all these economic sanctions by the West start weighing in.

Putin will never come out of this war the same again.