Russian airline Aeroflot violated Canada's ban on entering its airspace on Sunday, regulator says

• Aeroflot violated Canada's ban on Russian planes entering its airspace, Transport Canada said.
• The flight was headed from Miami to Moscow on Sunday afternoon, per a flight tracking site.

Russia's flagship carrier Aeroflot violated Canada's newly-announced ban on Russian airplanes entering the country's airspace, regulator Transport Canada said on Sunday.

"We are aware that Aeroflot flight 111 violated the prohibition put in place earlier today on Russian flights using Canadian airspace," Transport Canada tweeted.

The flight took off from Miami, Florida, at 3:12 p.m. and landed in Moscow at 9:54 a.m. local time, according to plane-tracking site FlightRadar24.

The regulator said in a second tweet that it was launching an investigation into Aeroflot's conduct and Canada's air-traffic control service provider Nav Canada.

Nav Canada told Reuters that Aeroflot entered Canada's airspace on Sunday.

"We will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action and other measures to prevent future violations," Transport Canada tweeted.

Canada on Sunday joined a group of nations that have shut off their airspace to all Russian aircraft in response to Moscow's decision to send troops into Ukraine. Canada's transport minister Omar Alghabra announced the ban was "effective immediately" in a tweet at 9 a.m EST on Sunday.

Ottawa prohibited Russian-owned, chartered or operated aircraft from entering Canadian airspace, including the airspace above Canada's territorial waters, the government said on Sunday, per a government press release.

"We will hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked attacks against Ukraine," Alghabra said.

Aeroflot announced on its website on Monday that it had canceled flights to Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Washington until at least March 2 because of Canada's decision to close its airspace to Russian planes.

Aeroflot didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The UK, the European Union, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Moldova, and the Czech Republic have banned all Russian airlines and airplanes from operating in their airspace after President Vladimir Putin order troops into Ukraine last week.

Following the announcement of the UK's ban, Russia prohibited all British aircraft from entering its airspace.