Ukrainian Airline is moving aircraft out of the country following U.S. warnings

This followed a warning from the US State Department that Russia could invade at any time, Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) has also been busy reacting to the situation, taking precautions of a different kind.

On Monday Feb. 14, the airline said that its insurers had terminated cover for at least some of its airplanes operating in the country’s airspace.

Several jets are currently being flown out of Kyiv for long-term storage. Five of the carrier’s 12 Boeing 737-800 aircraft headed to Castellon Airport (CDT) in Spain during Valentine’s Day. Two more planes would be taken to Belgrade in Serbia for “scheduled technical maintenance.” In total, the company has 25 aircraft.

The day before, the government in Kiyv had provided the equivalent of $590 million in aviation guarantees.

Previously, the Dutch airline KLM had completely suspended flights to Ukraine. The Ukrainian company SkyUp had to divert a return flight from Madeira to Chisinau in neighbouring Moldova because of the insurance issue. The passengers were later brought to Kiev by bus.

Germany’s Lufthansa, on the other hand, is continuing to fly to Ukraine for the time being. When asked, a spokesman explained that they had appropriate insurance cover. He said: “If there was no insurance, we wouldn’t fly either.”

For weeks, the US in particular has been warning of an allegedly imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, citing an increased Russian troop presence not far from the border.

UIA is not the only victim of the loss of insurers’ confidence. Ukrainian startup charter and low-cost carrier SkyUp Airlines has also been forced to cease sales of tickets as insurance companies, and lessors withdrew their protection.

The airline was forced to divert a flight from Portugal to Ukraine after the aircraft owner would not allow it to enter Ukrainian airspace. The weekly flight PQ902 from Funchal to Kiyv on Saturday, Feb. 12th, landed instead in Chisinau in Moldova.

SkyUp Airlines, which commenced operations in 2018, has a fleet of 15 Boeing 737s. All of the aircraft, which have an average age of 14 years, are leased, and eight of the planes were listed as parked even before the loss of insurance cover.

The Kremlin regularly rejects the accusations; Kiyv also does not see any concrete preparations for an attack.