Industry Reacts to Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Days after the United States and dozens of other countries counseled their citizens to leave Ukraine immediately, Russia on Feb. 24 launched an invasion of the country. 

This post will be updated as events warrant.

• [March 10, 12:50 pm EST] Hilton Worldwide said it was "suspending all new development activity in Russia" and would close its corporate office in Moscow.
• [March 10, 12:45 pm EST] Marriott International said it would "pause the opening of upcoming hotels and all future hotel development and investment in Russia" and close its corporate office in Moscow, adding that "our hotels in Russia are owned by third parties and we continue to evaluate the ability for these hotels to remain open."
• [March 10, 12:35 pm EST] Hyatt Hotels Corp. said it would "suspend our development activities and any new investments in Russia, effective immediately," adding that it would "continue to evaluate hotel operations in Russia, while complying with applicable sanctions and U.S. government directives."
• [March 10, 12:30 pm EST] IHG Hotels & Resorts said it was "suspending future investments, development activity and new hotel openings in Russia" and would close its corporate office in Moscow.
• [March 7, 10:05 am EST] American Express on Sunday issued a statement with similar intent to the move by Mastercard and Visa from the previous day. The statement attributed to chairman and CEO Stephen Squeri read, in part: "In light of Russia’s ongoing, unjustified attack on the people of Ukraine, American Express is suspending all operations in Russia. As a result, globally issued American Express cards will no longer work at merchants or ATMs in Russia. Additionally, cards issued locally in Russia by Russian banks will no longer work outside of the country on the American Express global network. We are also suspending all business operations in Belarus. This is in addition to the previous steps we have taken, which include halting our relationships with banks in Russia impacted by the U.S. and international government sanctions." 
• [March 7, 10:05 am EST] Global payment providers Mastercard Inc. and Visa Inc. on Saturday said the companies would suspend business in Russia due to the Ukraine invasion. All international transactions initiated with Russia-issued cards and all Russian transactions initiated by cards issued outside of Russia will cease "within days," according to Reuters.
• [March 4, 11:45 am EST] Global distribution system operator Amadeus announced it had “begun suspending the distribution of Aeroflot fares in our systems.”
• [March 3, 9:50 am EST] Sabre on Thursday said it had terminated its distribution agreement with Aeroflot and "is taking immediate steps to remove Aeroflot flight content from its global distribution system."
• [March 1, 10:20 pm EST]  The U.S. will close its airspace to Russian flights, President Joe Biden announced. The Washington Post reported federal officials were planning the ban to take effect by the end of Wednesday, March 2.
• [Feb. 28, 5:29 am EST] Canada has closed its airspace to Russia. According to Reuters, Aeroflot has no routes to Canada but does use the countries airspace on certain routes to the Unites States. The United States has not committed to airspace closures to Russia. 
• [Feb. 28, 5:19 am EST] The European Union has closed its airspace to Russia. Aeroflot has cancelled all flights to Europe. Russia is expected to respond by further closing its own airspace to EU countries. It has already done so to Britain, Bulgaria and Poland after these countries independently declared airspace closures to Russia last week.
• [Feb. 25, 2:58 pm EST] Delta Air Lines suspended its codeshare with Russian national airline Aeroflot, effective immediately.
• [Feb. 25, 9:42 am EST] Ukraine International Airlines has suspended all scheduled and charter flights to and from Ukraine through at least Feb. 27. All current information on the further status of flights will be posted on the official UIA website. 
• [Feb. 25, 5:30 am EST] The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority on Thursday suspended Aeroflot's foreign carrier permit, banning the carrier from flying to the U.K.
• [Feb. 24, 3:15 pm EST] The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has barred U.S. carriers from flying over Ukraine, Belarus and parts of western Russia, according to several reports. 

Ukraine on Thursday closed its airspace to all commercial flights, with the Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise indicating on its website it would not provide air traffic services for civilian use. Some airlines already had suspended service to and from Ukraine, a number that grew in recent days. 

Ukraine International Airlines suspended for Feb. 25 all scheduled and charter service to and from Ukraine, "in connection with the closure of Ukrainian airspace for civilian airspace users."

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency recommended commercial aircraft avoid not only the airspace of Ukraine and border areas of Russia but also Belarus and Moldova.