A Russian cargo plane flew over restricted EU airspace in a rare routing to the Czech Republic

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• A Russian Ilyushin Il-76TD cargo aircraft flew over Germany and the Czech Republic on a flight from Moscow to Brno.
• The jet received "special permission" to enter the restricted EU airspace, per local news outlet Czechia Posts English.

While the European Union has closed its airspace to Russian aircraft, there are some exceptions to the rule.

Last Thursday, a Russian Ilyushin Il-76TD cargo aircraft operated by Volga-Dnepr Airlines flew from Moscow to Brno, Czech Republic, via German airspace, according to FlightAware data.

The flight was given special permission from Germany and Czechia's Ministry of Transport, which "issued an exception for the Russian air carrier Volga Dnepr for flights to or from the Czech Republic for the purpose of transporting a specific commodity in the strategic interest of the Czech Republic and other EU member states, for the reason that currently at the moment there is no available alternative to air transport," Ministry spokesperson František Jemelka told local news outlet Czechia Post English.

The fuel was received by the country's state-controlled energy company ČEZ, with company spokesperson Ladislav Kříž saying, "we can confirm that these were fuel assemblies for the Temelín power plant based on a valid contract and last year's order."

Another Russian Ilyushin cargo jet returned to Czechia via the same routing on Tuesday, per FlightRadar24. However, the reason for that flight is still unconfirmed, but it was likely a similar mission.

"In both of our nuclear power plants, we maintain sufficient stocks of fuel assemblies," Kříž said. "Dates, routes, and the size of deliveries are not public information."

Despite the allowance from both countries, the Russian jet still had to fly a long route around several European countries and over the Baltic Sea to avoid closed airspace. The total flight time was three and a half hours.

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the EU banned Russian planes from flying in its airspace. Russia retaliated with its own airspace restrictions soon after, forcing both sides to detour around each other.

This resulted in passenger airlines adding hours of extra flight time and thousands in extra costs to circumvent closed airspace. For example, British Airways added one hour to its journey between New Delhi and London, while Finnair added a whopping four hours from Helsinki to Tokyo.

Despite the restrictions, EU countries can give special permission to Russian planes to enter their airspace. In mid-March, another Ilyushin Il-76 from Volga-Dnepr Airlines flew from Moscow to Slovakia to deliver nuclear fuel, according to pan-European news outlet Euractiv.

The jet traveled via Belarus and Poland, which is a different, yet shorter routing from its Tuesday flight over Germany. Slovakian Economy Minister Richard Sulík told Euractiv that he worked with the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to allow the overflight.

A different Volga-Dnepr Airlines Ilyushin plane flew a similar routing on March 1, per FlightRadar24, which took two and a half hours — one hour shorter than flying over Germany.

While Slovakia recently resumed fuel shipments from Russia, the Czech Republic is trying to reduce its fuel dependency on the Kremlin.

In April, ČEZ announced it had signed an agreement with US-based Westinghouse Electric Company to supply fuel to its Temelin Nuclear Power Plant.

Nuclear deliveries are not the only Russian overflight exceptions. In July, a Russian government plane flew nine hours from Moscow to Basel, Switzerland, to pick up diplomatic staff.

The jet, which flew over France and Switzerland, was given a "diplomatic clearing" from both nations, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs told BZ.