Putin plane lands at Euro-Airport Basel - observers in excitement
Created: 07/17/2022 05:04
By: Martina Lippl
The flight path of a Russian government jet causes a stir.
The EU has closed its airspace to Russian planes.
Nevertheless, a Russian Ilyushin Il-96-300 landed at Euro-Airport Basel.
Basel – A Russian plane landed in Basel on Wednesday evening.
The government aircraft with the
registration RSD86
took off from Moscow at 10:27 a.m. local time.
After a huge detour, the Ilyushin Il-96-300
landed
briefly at Euro-Airport* at Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg Airport.
The flight data portal Flightradar24.com
immediately noticed
the unusual maneuver in the air .
"A Russian government plane has almost completed its 9-hour flight from Moscow to Basel," Flightradar24.com
tweeted
and shares a link to more flight details.
There is another note for the followers:
"Without airspace restrictions, the flight would take just over three hours."
Airspace blocked for Russian planes – Putin plane lands in Switzerland
The flight and landing at Euro-Airport Basel raises questions.
The flight route is unusual.
The government jet flew over Turkey, then the coast of North Africa, before turning north via Tunisia.
The landing approach then also took place via Switzerland.
At 6.14 p.m. the plane lands at Euro-Airport Basel.
After a flight time of nine hours and 14 minutes.
The airspace in Europe – including Switzerland – has been closed to Russian aircraft since the end of February.
The landing of the government jet in Basel caused a stir.
"Mysterious Russian jet lands at Euro Airport" - headlines the
Basler Zeitung
.
The Ilyushin IL-96-300 with registration RA-96018 is also regularly used by President Vladimir Putin.
Putin plane lands in Switzerland after a huge detour, data from flightradar24.com shows.
© Screenshot flightradar24.com
Russian government plane lands in Basel - that's behind it
A spokesman for the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) said at the request of
bz
that the aircraft had received special permission from Switzerland and France for the overflight and landing ("diplomatic clearance").
The purpose of the flight is to move embassy staff.
Now it turns out that the plane flew home employees of the former Russian Council of Europe representation in Strasbourg.
The Putin plane picked up diplomatic personnel, the
bz
reports .
In March 2022, the Council of Europe expelled Russia from membership with immediate effect after 26 years because of the war in Ukraine.
The day before, Russia had already declared its withdrawal from the Council of Europe after it had taken steps to exclude it.
Three months later, a repatriation flight of the former Council of Europe employees and their families took place.
The relatives had definitely left France, the French Foreign Ministry announced.
However, the ministry left it open how many people it was.
On Wednesday at 11:24 p.m., the Russian government aircraft took off from Euro-Airport Basel towards Moscow.
At 8:40 a.m. local time, the Ilyushin IL-96-300 landed at Vnukovo Airport.
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Due to a computer glitch at the Swiss air traffic control Skyguide, the airspace over Switzerland was closed for hours in June.
No take-offs, no landings and no overflights were possible for safety reasons.
(ml)
*
An earlier version of this article stated that Euro-Airport is located in Switzerland.
Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg Airport is operated jointly by France and Switzerland and is located in France, 6 kilometers northwest of Basel city centre.
Please excuse the mistake.
