Southwind Airlines banned from EU

 Photo: Ton Jochems

The EU decided to ban Southwind Airlines from Turkey from flying to and over the EU. This decision was made after the airline applied to operate flights between Finland and Turkey and Finland found out that Southwind is, partially, owned by Russian investors, and therefore violating the EU sanctions.

Southwind Airlines was established in April 2022, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. It was launched with support of Russian touroperator Pegas Touristik and was set-up to ensure the continuous flow of Russian tourists to Turkey. It commenced flights in August 2022, first to Russia. Later, it added destinations in Bahrain, Belarus, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Moldova, North Macedonia, and Switzerland.

The airline currently has a fleet that is made-up of two Airbus A321s, one A321neo, two A330-200s, three Boeing B737-8s, three B777-300s, and one B777-300ER.