American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) resumed flights through Russian airspace on April 15 after a one-day interruption due to geopolitical tensions the day before, Reuters has reported. The short-lived disruption affected three transpacific flights which were rerouted through Los Angeles International.
The American carrier decided to reroute the otherwise non-stop flights from Dallas/Fort Worth to each of Beijing Capital and Hong Kong International, as well as from Chicago O'Hare to Beijing Capital through Los Angeles, thus allowing the aircraft to take a more southerly route and avoid entering the Russian airspace. A refuelling stop was needed due to range limitations. The routes are operated with a mix of B787-8s and B777-300(ER)s.
The disruption happened a day after President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on Syrian chemical weapons facilities, prompting an angry response from Moscow, the Syrian regime's close ally.
"The team at American regularly monitors global geopolitical issues and makes changes to aircraft routings when warranted," the carrier has said.
Neither American Airlines nor any other US-based carrier currently operates scheduled services to Russia. According to the ch-aviation capacity module, the sole passenger airline flying between the countries is Aeroflot, which operates routes out of Moscow Sheremetyevo to each of New York JFK, Washington Dulles, Miami International, and Los Angeles.
