Several European airlines have suspended or reduced flights to Ukraine as tensions mount over a possible Russian invasion of the country.
Lufthansa, alongside sister carriers Austrian Airlines and Swiss, has suspended flights to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the Black Sea city of Odessa for one week from Monday (21 February) until 28 February. Lufthansa said it would continue operating services to Lviv in western Ukraine. “Lufthansa is constantly monitoring the situation and will decide on further flights at a later date,” said the airline.
The Ukrainian government announced on Monday that 10 European airlines have now suspended or cancelled flights to the country while insisting that its airspace “remains open” for commercial flights. Dutch airline KLM last week announced the suspension of its flights to Kyiv, while sister carrier Air France said it was cancelling its scheduled Kyiv flights on Tuesday (22 February) as a “precautionary measure” and would be “regularly re-evaluating the situation”.
“Air France is constantly monitoring the geopolitical situation in the territories it serves in order to ensure the highest level of flight safety,” added the airline.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has decided to stop all services to and from Ukraine until 27 February. The airline flies from Oslo to Kyiv.
Latvia-based carrier airBaltic also announced it was suspending overnight flights to and from Ukraine until the end of February.
But the airline will continue to operate daily flights between Riga and Kyiv, as well as two flights between Vilnius and Kyiv this week. AirBaltic added that it was “evaluating the current situation before each flight”.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) said it was continuing to operate regular flights around Europe and had increased capacity on some of its European routes following the decisions by other carriers to suspend flights.
The carrier’s international routes include Gatwick, Munich, Paris, Barcelona, Milan and Geneva.
Information courtesy of Business Travel News Europe.