Finnair, Air France suspend flights in Belarus airspace

Air France announced it is suspending all flights over Belarus airspace in line with an EU recommendation after Minsk forced a jet to land to arrest a dissident.

The airline said in a statement it had "taken note" of the conclusions of Monday's EU summit and had suspended "until further notice" flights in Belarus airspace, adding that planes already in the air will have their flight plans modified.

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Finland's flag carrier Finnair said on Tuesday it would stop using Belarusian airspace after the incident.

"This affects very few flights. The last flight [in the airspace] was on Sunday and the next one will be on Wednesday," Finnair's spokeswoman told Reuters.

She added that Finnair made the decision after a recommendation from the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency.

(Inputs from AFP, Reuters)