On Monday, the 29th of April, Finnair announced that it is suspending flights to Tartu, Estonia for a month, attributing it to GPS interference over the Baltic Sea region, which Estonia blames on Russia, while two Finnair flights last week had to turn back because of GPS interference, reports Politico.
Tartu airport uses only GPS for landings and take-offs and Finnair is the only airline operating international flights to Tartu.
In a statement, Finnair apologised for the inconvenience caused to customers and said its priority was flight safety.
“The GPS disruption in Tartu is forcing us to suspend flights until alternative solutions are found,” the statement said, adding that
flights are suspended from the 29th of April until the 31st of May.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna called the GPS disruption a “hybrid attack” and blamed Russia, saying he planned to discuss the issue with representatives of the European Union and NATO.
“Russia knows very well that the signal interference it is transmitting is very dangerous for our air traffic,” Tsahkna was quoted as saying. He called it a
“deliberate act that disrupts our lives, putting people’s lives at risk”.
GPS disruptions in the Baltic region have been a regular occurrence since the start of the war in Ukraine, and Russia is considered the most likely suspect, although its responsibility has not been proven. Finnair said in a statement that its pilots in particular report interference near Kaliningrad, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the eastern Mediterranean.
Although aircraft can still fly safely without a GPS signal, the interference deprives pilots of an important source of geolocation.
Also read: Polish protesters end months-long blockade of the Ukrainian border
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