Willie Walsh, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has criticised the EU’s decision to ban the bloc’s aircraft from Belarus airspace after a Ryanair jet was forced to land there almost two weeks ago.

Mr Walsh, the former CEO of IAG, said aviation safety “must never be politicised” and that “two wrongs do not make a right”.

A Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was forced to land with a jet fighter escort after the crew was falsely told there might be a bomb on board.

When it landed at Minsk, authorities detained journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.

Mr Protasevich has been a vocal critic of authoritarian Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. Four Russian passport holders did not re-embark the aircraft before it left Minsk.

The incident sparked an international backlash against Belarus.

The EU has agreed to ban aircraft from Belarus from the bloc’s airspace.

The ban came into effect at midnight last night.

Earlier this week, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) replaced a recommendation for EU airlines to carefully assess the risk of flying in Belarus airspace, with a blanket prohibition on EU aircraft entering the country’s skies.

“Aviation safety must never be politicised,” said Mr Walsh, who is also a former CEO of Aer Lingus, which is now part of IAG.

“IATA condemned the actions of the Belarus government and called for an independent investigation,” he added.

“Banning European aircraft from using Belarusian airspace with a safety directive is also a politicisation of aviation safety.”

He said: “This is a retrograde and disappointing development. EASA should rescind its prohibition and allow airlines to manage safety as they do each and every day – with their normal operational risk assessments.

“Two wrongs do not make a right,” he said.

“Politics should never interfere with the safe operation of aircraft and politicians should never use aviation safety as a cover to pursue political or diplomatic agendas.”

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has described the incident in Belarus as “state-sponsored hijacking”.

Mr Protasevich has been paraded by authorities in front of TV cameras three times since the incident.

He has made tearful confessions to attempts to topple Mr Lukashenko, which the opposition said have been made under duress.