Turkmenistan Airlines (T5, Ashgabat) will be banned from transiting Russian airspace with effect from September 19 Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) has announced.

The Turkmen carrier has repeatedly failed to settle arrears due to Russia's Federal State Unitary Enterprise "State ATM Corporation" (FSUE SAC) which oversees all air navigation services across the country.

The FSUE SAC says Turkmenistan Airlines must first pay for the services rendered up until August 27, 2016 and then to September 14, 2016. Its total debt is USD220,000.

Aside from affecting Turkmenistan Airlines' Ashgabat to Moscow Domodedovo and St. Petersburg services, its flights to Minsk National, Birmingham, GB, and London Heathrow will also be affected.