UK suspends Belavia's operating permit and instructs its airlines to avoid airspace of Belarus

[brooklynite]

Source: Airlive

UK aircraft have been ordered to stay away from Belarusian airspace, following Sunday’s forced diversion of a Ryanair plane.

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said he has instructed the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to request airlines avoid Belarusian airspace “in order to keep passengers safe”.

Link to tweet

Read more: https://www.airlive.net/breaking-uk-suspends-belavias-operating-permit-and-instructs-its-airlines-to-avoid-airspace-of-belarus/

[dchill]

1. Seems prudent.

[Stuart G]

2. Here is a link to where Belarus is in Europe. (for others like me who forgot where it is)

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Belarus/

[Devil Child]

3. I hope Belarus ends up without international air travel from Western nations.

Government sanctioned air-piracy needs a response.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. Europe moves to isolate Belarus after Minsk forces airliner to land and detains dissident

RIGA, Latvia — European leaders on Monday were taking steps to cut off air connections with Belarus, barring airlines from flying over the country a day after its leaders forced a commercial jet to land and arrested a dissident journalist.

British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps instructed his country’s civilian aviation authority to ask U.K. airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace “to keep passengers safe,” he wrote on Twitter. He said he had suspended permits for Belavia, Belarus’s national carrier, to operate in Britain.

Britain joined countries including Lithuania, Ukraine and Latvia that have sought to avoid Belarusian airspace after a brazen incident with little international precedent.

European Union leaders discussed punishing measures, and investigators were seeking more details about an audacious effort by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to snag the founder of a prominent opposition outlet. The leader sent up a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort a Ryanair flight down to the ground in Minsk, a power play that set a fearsome precedent for journalists and political opponents, who now must fear flying through the airspace of repressive regimes, even if they are moving from one free capital to another.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/europe-moves-to-isolate-belarus-after-minsk-forces-airliner-to-land-and-detains-dissident/ar-AAKkwq8

[IronLionZion]

5. Who had state sponsored hijackings on their 2021 bingo card?

The world is a weird and dangerous place.

[dalton99a]

6. Treat Belarus like North Korea.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Belarus KGB believed to be on plane forced to land in Minsk, says Ryanair CEO

Ryanair’s chief executive has said he believes that agents of the Belarusian KGB were travelling on the plane that was diverted to Minsk on Sunday, as EU leaders prepared to meet to discuss what action to take against Belarus.
...
In an interview on Newstalk Breakfast, the Ryanair CEO, Michael O’Leary, said that “it appears the intent of the authorities was to remove a journalist and his travelling companion … we believe there were some KGB agents offloaded at the airport as well”.

O’Leary’s remarks were the first official confirmation of reports that four other passengers had disembarked in Minsk after the emergency landing, driving speculation that Protasevich was being shadowed by the security services before the plane was forced to land. O’Leary said he believed it was the first time such an incident had taken place with a European airline.
...
According to colleagues, Protasevich had sent them messages claiming he was being followed by a man in the departure lounge in Athens he suspected was a Belarusian KGB agent. The man was said to have been behind him in the queue to board. He was said to have tried to take a photo of his documents before asking Protasevich a “stupid question” in Russian and leaving.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/24/belarus-seizure-blogger-ryanair-flight-us-outcry

[oldsoftie]

8. I cannot believe they faked a bomb threat.

There needs to be international punishment