European airlines forced to take longer routes to Asia to avoid Russia will struggle to compete with Chinese rivals as travel rebounds after Covid-19 lockdowns, the chief executive of Air France-KLM has warned.
Ben Smith said Chinese airlines had an “unfair advantage” over European carriers that have been banned from Russian airspace since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago, with both the EU and Moscow imposing restrictions. Chinese carriers are still allowed to fly over Russia and can take shorter routes to Europe.
“Between Paris and Seoul, it can add up to three hours in flight time,” Smith said. “If you’ve got a Chinese carrier that is flying over Russia, they’ve got an unfair advantage over us.”
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