LONDON, February 25. /TASS/. United Kingdom’s British Airways and Virgin Atlantic will not use Russian airspace in view of the ban introduced by the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, air carriers said in their statements released on Friday.

"We have suspended our flights to Moscow and also the use of Russian airspace, following the confirmation of Russian government restrictions. We apologize for the inconvenience but this is clearly a matter beyond our control. We are notifying customers on cancelled services and are offering a full refund. We will continue to monitor the situation closely," British Airways said. The airline made three flights to Moscow per week earlier.

Virgin Atlantic did not fly to Russia and brought apologies for extending the time of flights from the UK to India and Pakistan.

"We apologize for any inconvenience caused to customers by slightly longer flight times," an airline’s spokesperson said. "The safety and security of our customers and people always comes first and we're monitoring the situation in Ukraine and Russia extremely carefully following the escalation of conflict," the spokesperson added.

Earlier on Friday, the Russian air regulator imposed a ban on arrivals and transit of all airplanes belonging to or registered in the United Kingdom. The measure was taken in response to earlier suspended license for Russian air carrier Aeroflot for flights to the United Kingdom.