Russia has reimposed a ban on all flights to Georgia in the wake of an escalating armed conflict between the two nations over South Ossetia.

The Russian transport ministry issued an order that air services with Georgia must be halted from 9 August.

The two sides had only restored bilateral air links in March after an 18 months break as a result of mounting political tensions.

Under the new directive, Aeroflot and S7 Airlines promptly cancelled 10 scheduled weekly flights to the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

Their counterparts AirZena Georgian Airways and National Airlines were barred from providing 10 regular services to Moscow.

Georgian operator TAM Air has had to abandon plans to begin serving Russian cities Sochi, Rostov-on-Don and MinVody from Tbilisi and Batumi.

S7 Airlines is reported to have changed the route plan of its Moscow-Yerevan scheduled flights to bypass Georgia’s air space and use that of neighbouring Azerbaijan. <

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