Budget airline Wizz Air is seeking to evacuate its Ukrainian-based crew, their families, and four planes stuck in the country after Ukraine closed its airspace. The Hungarian-based airline, which has two bases in Ukraine, said three of its aircraft were stranded in the capital city of Kyiv, while the fourth is stuck at the airline's base in Lviv.
Wizz Air had previously operated the second-highest number of flights between Europe and Ukraine, behind Ryanair, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. A Wizz Air spokesperson previously told Simple Flying:
“Due to the current events in Ukraine and the airspace closure, Wizz Air regrets to inform our customers that the airline must temporarily suspend all flight operations in the country. Passengers with flights booked on arriving or departing Ukrainian flights can find more information on wizzair.com, or alternatively, via the airline’s call centre: 00380 893 202 532.
The safety and security of our passengers and crew remains our number one priority, and we hope normality will to return to Ukraine soon."
The airline, which operates an all-Airbus fleet of A320 series aircraft, had previously served 110 routes at six Ukrainian airports, including 50 from Kyiv Boryspil International Airport and 32 from Lviv's Danylo Halytskyi International.
Ukraine closes its airspace in response to threats to civilian aircraft.
The Hungarian-based airline was one of the last to continue service to Ukraine and has been unable to retrieve its stranded crew and aircraft as the airspace has been closed due to imminent threats. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency announced a Conflict Zone Information Bulletin for Ukraine early Thursday morning.
The announcement followed an urgent message of the Russian Ministry of Defense which warned of a high risk of flight safety of civil aircraft associated with the use of weapons and military equipment and has since been updated to reflect the risk posed by the threat of missile launches into controlled airspace.
"Air operators are reminded that the areas mentioned above are an active conflict zone. Under these circumstances, the aforementioned airspace and critical infrastructure, including airports, are exposed to military activities which result in safety risks for civil aircraft. In particular, there is a risk of both intentional targeting and misidentification of civil aircraft." The EASA cautioned in their bulletin.
The action follows months of rising tensions which have already seen many airlines altering flight schedules to avoid night stops in the country or canceling flights to the nation entirely and includes a buffer zone extending up to 200 nautical miles from the border to reduce the risk of aircraft being targeted by ground and airborne warfare systems.
Other airlines serving the country halted flights to the country, with carriers such as airBaltic readjusting its flight timings to avoid aircraft being left on the ground in Ukraine overnight. Flag carrier Ukraine International Airlines was forced to send five of its Boeing 737-800s to Castellon Airport (CDT) in Spain to appease lessors in the face of its insurers terminating coverage of aircraft for all flights in Ukrainian airspace.
Ukrainian airline Bees was also forced to send all four of its Boeing 737-800 aircraft to France's Montpellier-Méditerranée Airport for safekeeping.
Swift repercussions have followed for Russian carriers.
The United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, announced restrictions to echo the EU's and prohibited all scheduled Russian airlines from entering UK airspace or touching down on British soil. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration announced new restrictions for US airlines, barring them from the airspace over Ukraine, Belarus, and part of western Russia.