A machine landed in VIE on Wednesday. But now the Belarusian airline is putting its flights to Austria on hold in the conflict over the forced landing of a passenger plane in Minsk. Other EU countries are also affected.

Several European countries imposed take-off and landing bans immediately after the event. That didn't seem to bother the airline, until the very end it was still flying to Vienna-Schwechat. That happened legally, because the Austrian capital airport was still waiting for the formal regulation of the EU Commission.

But the state-owned Belavia was one step ahead of the ministry. On Thursday, the airline Belavia itself stopped its flights to Austria. Frankfurt, Berlin, Hanover and Munich would no longer be served from now on, he said ORF. 

A total of seven countries are affected - in addition to Austria, Germany, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium. The flights are suspended until the end of October, the tickets can be returned or exchanged. From Russia, other ex-Soviet republics and Turkey, however, there are still direct flight connections to the Belarusian capital Minsk.