Delta Flight Forced Back After Russia Denies Use of Airspace

SAN FRANCISCO —  A Delta flight from Atlanta to Japan was forced back to the United States after Russian air traffic controllers said it didn’t have permission to fly through Russian airspace.

A Russian air traffic official said the action may have resulted from a mix-up.

Delta Air Lines Flight 55, with 203 passengers and 15 crew members, was 20 minutes into Russian airspace when the controllers told pilots that the flight lacked clearance, a Delta spokesman said.

About 9 1/2 hours into the flight, the plane had to turn around and fly 5 1/2 more hours to recross the Pacific and land in San Francisco early Thursday morning.

Passengers got a few hours of sleep at a hotel, then continued their trip to Japan later Thursday.

Robert Usov, a spokesman for the civil aviation sector of the Russian Air Traffic Control Center in Moscow, said Delta had failed to send a request in time for permission to fly through Russian airspace but that it was given special clearance by Moscow.

“The flight wasn’t in our plan. However, we decided to let the plane [fly] through our airspace and gave corresponding orders to the Khabarovsk regional air traffic control center,” Usov said. “I don’t know what the problem was but, I repeat, we let the Delta flight in. Maybe there was some misunderstanding.”

“It was an isolated incident,” said Delta spokeswoman Alesia Watson. “Steps have been taken to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Delta has three other flights each day to Japan that traverse Russian airspace. None of those flights were affected, Watson said.

Passenger Mark Matthews of Macon, Ga., said there was some concern about the safety of the rerouted flight, given the U.S.-China standoff over the return of the 24 military crew members detained since a midair collision.

“I didn’t see any MIG-29s on our flanks, but I’m sure it did cross everybody’s mind,” Matthews said.

In 1983, Soviet fighter planes shot down a Korean Airlines passenger jet after it strayed into Soviet airspace, killing all 269 people aboard.