Russian plane takes 15,000km detour to pick diplomats

A plane sent from Moscow to pick up expelled Russian diplomats from Greece and then Spain was forced to make a 15,000km detour due to a EU flight ban, flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 reports.

“While Spain and Greece made a one-time exception for the aircraft to enter their airspace, the flights navigated around other countries that maintain bans on Russian flights,” the website said.

It added that the total length of the flight was 15,163 km, “just shy of the current world’s longest flight between Singapore and New York”.

Plane sent from Moscow to collect expelled Russian diplomats from Spain, then Greece, was forced to make 15K detour because of EU flight ban—almost as long as world's longest flight between Singapore and New York, according to @flightradar24. https://t.co/lsQrF124pH pic.twitter.com/4gyN1Ihkrr

— Lucian Kim (@Lucian_Kim) April 19, 2022