Austrian Airlines cancelled a Vienna-Moscow flight on Thursday, saying Russian authorities had not approved a route change for the plane to be able to avoid Belarusian airspace. The airline said it had suspended flights over Belarusian airspace in line with a recommendation by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), making a route change for the Vienna-Moscow flight necessary. "A change in flight routes must be approved by the authorities. The Russian authorities did not give us this permission," the airline said in a statement to AFP. jza/dl