Airlines upset over flight ban

Press, 22 July 1980, Page 23

Airlines upset over flight ban

NZPA Reuter Moscow I Seven Western airlines ; will protest formally to So- ' viet authorities over the ] mid-air diversion of their 1 flights into Moscow, West- 1 ern Airline sources said < today. ; Aircraft belonging to the < seven companies were radioed from Moscow’s Sheremi- : tievo Airport on Sundays while the Soviet territory < and told they could not land < because of “security rea-1 sons.’’ i The b_n lasted the three hours of the opening cere- i mony . of the Olympic | Games, and was then lifted. i The airlines involved included Iberia of Spain, Japan ' Airlines, British Airways, and Air France, the sources i said. Flight crews were given < no additional explanation for < the ban, other than that 1

there were “security reasons” for the move, but given the climate of EastWest tension over the Olympic Games, there was .speculation that Soviet officials feared some demonstration could be staged from the air aimed at disrupting the opening ceremony. Western airline officials said yesterday that . the seven airlines had found the explanation for the ban unconvincing, and would each make a protest to Soviet authorities. The ban was apparently not applied to East European airlines. The sources said that an East German & Interflug plane landed during the three-hour ban at Sheremietievo. As well as affecting incoming flights, the ban also delayed outgoing flights by Lufthansa and Air France.