Global aviation faces its biggest political crisis in years after Belarus scrambled a fighter and flagged what turned out to be a false bomb alert to detain a dissident journalist, prompting U.S. and European outrage.

Some European airlines immediately began avoiding Belarus airspace, a key corridor between western Europe and Moscow and route for long-haul flights between western Europe and Asia.

Flightradar24 tracking data showed at least one Ryanair flight avoiding Belarus, adding hundred of miles to its trip, and Latvian carrier airBaltic said it had decided not to use the country’s airspace “until the situation becomes clearer”.

“We, like all the European airlines are looking for guidance today from the European authorities and from NATO,” Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary told Ireland’s Newstalk radio.

Others, including Chinese and Turkish carriers, continued to fly over Belarus, which charges euro-denominated fees to use its airspace. Each flight brings Minsk revenue equivalent to some $500, adding up to millions each year, a Belarus official said.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said it had notified its 31 member states about the incident and an airline source said the agency had recommended “caution” over Belarus.

Aviation experts said a decades-old system of cooperation now faces a crucial test under the glare of East-West tensions.

The U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said the incident may have contravened a core aviation treaty: part of the international order created after World War Two.

“ICAO is strongly concerned by the apparent forced landing of a Ryanair flight and its passengers, which could be in contravention of the Chicago Convention,” it said on Sunday.

But experts cautioned that calls from some Western politicians for the outright closure of Belarus airspace would come up against tough obstacles.

Under global aviation rules, neither ICAO nor any nation can close another’s airspace, but some, such as the United States, have the power to tell their own airlines not to fly there.

The United States said it had called for a meeting of ICAO’s 36-nation council, which has power to investigate any situation that hinders the development of international aviation. Read more

Source: Reuters