Wizz Air to extract four aircraft grounded in Ukraine
Wizz Air (W6, Budapest) plans to extract as soon as possible four of its A320-200s trapped in Ukraine following the closure of the country’s airspace to all civilian flights following the Russian invasion.
“We will be evacuating, at the earliest opportunity, the four aircraft (three in Kyiv and one in Lviv) we have based on the ground,” a Wizz Air spokesperson confirmed to ch-aviation.
According to Flightradar24 ADS-B data, three Wizz Air A320-200s are stuck at Kyiv Igor Sikorsky. They are HA-LWY (msn 6058) which had arrived on February 23 from Milan Malpensa (Italy); HA-LPJ (msn 3127) from Hamburg Helmut Schmidt (Germany); and HA-LPM (msn 3177) from Budapest (Hungary). Another A320-200, HA-LWS (msn 5608), is grounded at Lviv.
“The safety and security of our passengers and crew remain our number one priority and we hope normality will return to Ukraine soon,” Wizz Air said in a statement.
Budget carriers Wizz Air and Ryanair and several other airlines have announced the temporary suspension of all flight operations to/from the Ukraine due to the closure of its airspace following the Russian attack.
Wizz Air has cancelled at least 20 flights from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, since February 24, including to Wroclaw, Gdansk, and Warsaw Chopin (Poland), Berlin Brandenburg Int’l, Dortmund, Cologne/Bonn, Memmingen, and Hamburg (Germany), Tallinn Lennart Meri (Estonia), Larnaca (Cyprus),Bratislava (Slovakia), Athens Int’l (Greece), Budapest (Hungary), Vienna (Austria), Riga (Latvia), Rome Fiumicino (Italy), Copenhagen Kastrup and Billund (Denmark), Eindhoven (Netherlands), and Paris Beauvais (France).
Other aircraft grounded at Kyiv were an Air Ocean Airlines (AOA, Kyiv Igor Sikorsky) An-148-100, UR-CTC (msn 27015041011), and a Jonika Airlines (JO, Kyiv Igor Sikorsky) B737-400 UR-CSV (msn 27831).
At Kyiv Boryspil, grounded aircraft belong to Ukrainian charter carrier SkyUp Airlines, Azur Air Ukraine, and Windrose Airlines, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.
Ryanair is the worst affected at Kyiv and has announced it has suspended its Ukrainian services for at least 14 days due to the Russian invasion. “All flights to/from Ukraine have been removed from sale for at least next four weeks until further information becomes available from EU safety agencies. Ryanair remains committed to our services to/from Ukraine and we look forward to restoring flight services there as soon as it is safe to do so,” it said in a statement.
Ryanair cancelled its flights from Madrid, Catania, and Barcelona El Prat (Spain); Bratislava (Slovakia); Paphos (Cyprus); Vienna (Austria); Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Berlin, and Cologne (Germany); Naples Capodichino (Italy); Athens (Greece); Gdansk and Warsaw (Poland); and Manchester Int’l (UK).
Other cancellations came from Turkish Airlines from Istanbul New and Pegasus Airlines from Ankara Esenboga (Turkey). Turkish Airlines normally serves six destinations in Ukraine: Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines cancelled flights from Amsterdam Schiphol (Netherlands). “It is not yet clear when KLM will fly to Kyiv again,” the Dutch airline announced. “KLM has not been flying over the eastern regions of Ukraine and Crimea since 2014. There are now no more KLM flights through Ukrainian airspace until further notice.”
Qatar Airways suspended all its flights from Yerevan (Armenia). “All Qatar Airways flights to Ukraine have been temporarily suspended. We continue to closely monitor developments,” the Qatari flag carrier announced on social media.
airBaltic from Riga (Latvia) followed suit by cancelling all its flights to Ukraine from February 24 to March 13, 2022. “The safety of our passengers and employees is the main priority of airBaltic. airBaltic is evaluating the current situation before each flight and following the recommendations issued by official authorities. airBaltic is flexible and ready to adjust its flight schedule if necessary. We recommend everyone to organise your own transportation to leave Ukraine as fast as possible via land transport,” the airline said in a statement.