Ukraine Int’l Airlines defers Warsaw flights, blames Belarus

Ukraine International Airlines (PS, Kyiv Boryspil) has said it will not resume flights between Kyiv Boryspil and Warsaw Chopin on June 18, 2021, as originally planned, due to the current crisis concerning overflights over Belarus and the resulting shifts in demand. The carrier said the closure of Belarus airspace to carriers from the European Union and Ukraine had led to “a redistribution” of the number of passengers willing to travel between Kyiv and Warsaw. The airline did not go into details concerning the impact of the situation. Flights between Poland and Ukraine do not overfly Belarus. According to the ch-aviation capacities module, there is currently an ample supply of scheduled capacity between Poland and Ukraine with 103 weekly return flights operated by LOT Polish Airlines, Wizz Air, Ryanair, and SkyUp Airlines. The capitals of the two countries are connected on a scheduled basis by LOT (which flies from Warsaw Chopin to both Boryspil and Kyiv Igor Sikorsky), Wizz Air (Warsaw Chopin-Kyiv Sikorsky), and Ryanair (Warsaw Modlin-Boryspil). UIA said it would continue to “carefully analyze the market for both point-to-point passengers travelling from/to Poland and transfer passengers travelling with a connection in Poland or Ukraine”.