In today’s episode of “goodness, geopolitics is complicated,” airlines from Taiwan have officially once again started using Russian airspace, nearly five years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As you’d expect, there’s a rather complicated reason for this.
Airlines from Taiwan are again using Russian airspace
In February 2022, we saw Russia invade Ukraine. Obviously this has had far-reaching implications that go way beyond aviation, including an unconscionable death toll. But as it impacts aviation, perhaps the biggest implication has been that airlines from many countries have stopped using Russian airspace.
Airlines from some countries were banned, due to reciprocal measures put in place by Russia. Meanwhile airlines from other countries voluntarily stopped using Russian airspace, on safety and insurance grounds.
While airlines from Taiwan have never formally been banned from Russian airspace, Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) did voluntarily put a Russian airspace ban in place, preventing airlines from Taiwan from using Russian airspace. That appears to have been lifted as of the start of the IATA winter season, which kicked off on October 25, 2026.
As OMAAT member atzkowski had pointed out, on October 24, 2026, China Airlines flight CI75 from Taipei (TPE) to Rome (FCO) operated almost the entire way over Russia (the flight took off late at night on October 24, so it was October 25 by the time it was using Russian airspace).
As a point of comparison, previously this flight would typically fly much further south, over India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, etc.
Is Pakistan the reason for Russian airspace use?
Why would airlines from Taiwan suddenly start using Russian airspace? Some media sources in Taiwan suggest it’s because an overall risk assessment has been performed, and the decision was made that this was no longer necessary.
Particularly in winter, headwinds going west can be really strong when taking a more southerly routing, so there’s a bigger advantage to flying over Russia, as it could potentially shave an hour or so off the total flight time.
However, Enilria suggests that as of October 25, 2026, Pakistan has banned airlines from Taiwan from its airspace. While I haven’t been able to find an official notice of this, that explanation does seem to check out.
For example, take China Airlines flight CI81 from Taipei to London (LHR). Prior to October 25, the route consistently operated over Pakistani airspace. Keep in mind airlines from Taiwan can’t use mainland China airspace for overflight, given the politics at play.
However, if airlines from Taiwan are actually banned from Pakistani airspace (which seems to be the case), their only option is to either fly north of China or south of Pakistan, given that the two countries border. So flights to Europe that haven’t been operating using Russian airspace have instead started flying over the Middle East, just a few miles from the Strait of Hormuz.
So, why would Pakistan ban Taiwanese airlines from its airspace? China and Pakistan have very close relations, so the idea is that China pressured Pakistan into this policy. That would hardly be the first time that China has tried to pull something like that.
One thing to keep in mind is that airlines from Taiwan will likely limit their use of Russian airspace. For example, the United States doesn’t let US carriers codeshare on flights that use Russian airspace, so expect most US routes of Taiwanese carriers still won’t use that airspace.
I’m curious to see how this all evolves. It’s not easy to be an airline from Taiwan, if you can’t use the airspace of China or Pakistan.
Bottom line
Airlines from Taiwan have gradually started resuming the use of Russian airspace, nearly five years after they voluntarily stopped using it. It would appear that what’s going on here is that Pakistan has banned Taiwanese airlines from overflying the country, due to pressure from China.
When you can’t use Chinese or Pakistani airspace for overflight, your only options are to either go south over the Middle East, or go north over Russia. It’ll be interesting to see how widespread use of Russian airspace becomes for airlines from Taiwan.
What do you make of this Taiwanese airline Russian airspace situation?
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