Finnish airline starts cancelling flights due to Russia's jamming of GPS

Бекграунд. Також повідомлялося, що росія могла заглушити GPS-сигнал на літаку міністра оборони Британії. Зв'язок із супутниками був відсутній протягом 30 хвилин, коли літак пролітав біля Калінінграда.

Finnair has suspended flights to the Estonian city of Tartu due to problems with the GPS satellite navigation system.

Source. This was reported by the airline's press service.

"Finnair will suspend its daily flights to Tartu from 29 April to 31 May so that an alternative approach solution that does not require a GPS signal can be implemented at Tartu Airport," the statement said.

It notes that the methods used by the city airport are based on the GPS signal, and the interference prevents the aircraft from approaching and landing. Last week, two flights were forced to return to Helsinki due to obstacles on the approach to Tartu.

"We apologise for the inconvenience that the flight cancellations cause our customers. Flight safety is always our top priority," said Jari Paajanen, a spokesman for the airline.

Earlier, The Financial Times wrote that the foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania accused Russia of suppressing the GPS satellite navigation system in the Baltic Sea region. In this regard, they warned of a growing threat of aviation accidents in the region.

The Estonian authorities consider the situation with GPS as "part of Russia's hostile activities" and are raising the issue with their allies, said Foreign Minister Margus Tahkna. According to him, Moscow's actions "are a hybrid attack and a threat to our people and security, which we will not tolerate."

Between August 2023 and the end of March 2024, the number of cases of jamming or replacing GPS signals in the Baltic Sea region increased from less than 50 to 350 per week, The Sun newspaper calculated with the help of experts based on data from GPSJAM.org.

Earlier this year, the commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, General Martin Herem, suggested that the interference with the satellite navigation system could be linked to Russia's actions. According to Herem, Moscow could have done this amid the risk of a potential military clash with NATO.

Background. It has also been reported that Russia could have jammed the GPS signal on the British Defence Secretary's plane. Communication with satellites was lost for 30 minutes when the aircraft was flying near Kaliningrad.