On Oct. 27, Ukraine International Airlines will end service between Kyiv and Almaty, Kazakhstan, citing excessive costs from Russia's prohibition of Ukrainian carrier use of Russian airspace. Bypassing Russian airspace has added more than an hour to the flight time and has made the flight unprofitable, according to the carrier. "This was a forced and logical decision," UIA CEO Yevhenii Dykhne said. "Losses of more than $7 million do not allow us to continue operating this loss-making flight." The carrier estimates it has carried nearly 530,000 passengers on the Kyiv-Almaty route since 2013. It will cover the route via a codeshare with Kazakh carrier Air Astana. Doing so "disrupts the UIA network model" but is necessary to regain profitability, according to the carrier. UIA ended service to Kazakhstan capital Nur-Sultan, formerly Astana, last December.