WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Transportation Department was set to issue an order as early as Tuesday that would prohibit anyone in the United States from using U.S.-based travel services to purchase airline tickets to Belarus, a source familiar with the order told Reuters.
In May, the U.S. government advised passenger airlines to use “extreme caution” when flying over Belarus after authorities from that country forced a Ryanair flight to land in the capital, Minsk, and arrested a dissident journalist who was aboard.
At the time, however, the United States stopped short of imposing any restrictions.
A move to restrict ticket sales – a step that has been under consideration by the U.S. government for several weeks – would be mostly symbolic since relatively few tickets are purchased for travel to Belarus from U.S.-based travel services.
The “Notice to Airmen” issued last month does not apply to cargo carriers such as United Parcel Service and Fedex Corp that fly over Belarus.
United Airlines flies a route to India that sometimes is routed near Belarus, but no other U.S. passenger carrier typically flies through the former Soviet republic’s airspace.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Jonathan Oatis)
