The flights were en route to Saint Petersburg and Moscow, but the pilots were eventually asked to turn around. The plane bound for Saint Petersburg returns to Amsterdam. A spokeswoman said the plane, which was en route to Moscow, had left for Copenhagen, where it had to be refueled before also returning to Schiphol.

The immediate reason is that as a result of the sanctions package agreed in the European context, aircraft spare parts may not be sent to Russia, not even for its own use. This means that we can no longer guarantee the safe return of flights to Russia. What this means for flights after today and flights that were scheduled to fly over Russia is currently being investigated.” It is not yet clear what this will mean for KLM routes to China, Japan and South Korea, which have so far passed through Russia.

The Flightradar24 app shows that flight KL903 to Moscow, which had left Amsterdam just before 12:00, had almost reached its destination and then turned around. The plane to Saint Petersburg (flight number KL1395) took off just after 13:00 and turned over Estonia.