Lufthansa continues to fly to Kiev
Ukrainian airline takes planes out of the country
February 14, 2022, 6:50 p.m
Another airline is drawing consequences from the escalating Ukraine conflict: A Ukrainian airline is relocating its machines abroad for insurance reasons. The largest German airline, on the other hand, continues to fly to destinations in Ukraine.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) has ordered planes out of the country after warnings from the United States that war may be imminent. The insurance for their flights in Ukrainian airspace has been discontinued, the company said. The country’s largest airline announced that its insurers had announced that the corresponding cover had been withdrawn. The question is being negotiated with insurers and authorities.
Five planes were flown to Spain. Two more planes would be taken to Belgrade, Serbia, for “scheduled technical maintenance”. In total, the company has 25 aircraft.
The day before, the government in Kiev had provided the equivalent of over 500 million euros for aviation guarantees. Previously, the Dutch KLM had completely suspended flights to Ukraine. The Ukrainian company SkyUp had to divert a flight home from Madeira to Chisinau in neighboring Moldova because of the insurance freeze. The passengers were later taken to Kiev by bus.
Lufthansa, on the other hand, will continue to fly to Ukraine for the time being. When asked, a spokesman said that they had appropriate insurance coverage. He said: “If there were no insurance, we wouldn’t fly either.” On its homepage, Lufthansa continues to offer connections to Ukrainian cities such as Kiev in Lviv.
For weeks, the United States in particular has been warning of an allegedly imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, pointing to an increased Russian troop presence near the borders with Ukraine. The Kremlin regularly denies the allegations. Kiev also sees no concrete preparations for an attack at the moment.