Russian airlines, including the state carrier Aeroflot, have been banned from the UK.

The ban is part of a package of sanctions against Russia following President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the sanctions were ‘the largest and most severe package of economic sanctions Russia has ever seen’.

Addressing the House of Commons yesterday, the PM said the sanctions, agreed with the UK’s NATO allies, were ‘designed in time to hobble the Russian economy’.

Mr Johnson did not say when the ban on Russian airlines would take effect, but Transport Secretary Grant Shapps later tweeted: “I’ve signed restrictions prohibiting all scheduled Russian airlines from entering UK airspace or touching down on British soil.”

Some responded to the tweet to point out that the ban did not seem to extend to private charters, often used by Russian oligarchs to fly to the UK.

The Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement: “Following the announcement by the Prime Minister in Parliament today, the UK Civil Aviation Authority has suspended the foreign carrier permit held by Aeroflot Russia Airlines (Aeroflot) until further notice.

“This means that Aeroflot will not be permitted to operate flights to or from the United Kingdom until further notice”.

Aeroflot currently operates daily flights from London Heathrow to Moscow and three flights a week from London to St Petersburg. British Airways also flies from Heathrow to Moscow.

EasyJet used to operate flights from London Gatwick to Moscow, but the route was cancelled.

Russia has three other airlines, Siberian Airilnes S7, which has a longstanding codeshare deal with British Airways, Transaero and VIM-AVIA.