The airline is already suspending connections to Ukraine.
(Photo: Reuters)
Frankfurt More and more airlines from Europe are reacting to the growing threat of war in Ukraine. After the Dutch airline KLM declared at the weekend that it no longer wanted to fly to the Ukraine, the low-cost airline Norwegian announced at the beginning of the week that it would no longer fly over the Black Sea state.
British Airways also seems to be flying around the crisis area. At least that’s what a Twitter post by a cargo pilot who reported on a longer flight because of the Ukraine conflict suggests. Data from Flightradar also shows the detours. There has not yet been an official statement from the airline.
Lufthansa is currently sticking to Ukraine flights and points out, among other things, that there is still no corresponding warning from the European aviation authority Easa. But the industry assumes that it is only a matter of time before the German airline group takes action.
One thing nobody in the industry has forgotten is the tragic downing of MH 17, a Malaysian Airlines flight. The jet was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 occupants were killed. Investigations indicate that the Russian-type missile was fired by pro-Russian rebels, although the Kremlin denies this to this day.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
In addition, it is becoming increasingly difficult for airlines to justify flights into or over the area to leasing companies and insurance companies. The first to feel this was the national provider Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). Out of concern for its own machines, the company took several of its planes out of the country and into safe terrain at the beginning of the week. The insurance cover had expired because of the crisis, it was said as a reason.
Leasing companies and insurance companies are getting nervous
Leasing companies are also becoming increasingly nervous. The Ukrainian low-cost provider had to suspend or reroute flights because the company leasing the machines had insisted on doing so. Even an aid program initiated by the government in Kiev specifically for such cases, which provides guarantees for aviation with a volume of 500 million euros, does nothing to change the difficult situation.
It is a delicate decision for an airline to immediately discontinue a flight connection to a country. Numerous governments have recently asked their compatriots to leave Ukraine. You need flights for that. Airlines such as Lufthansa always refer to this point when asking why management sometimes decides later than others to remove a country from the flight schedule for the time being because of a geopolitical crisis.
>> Read about this: “We are always ready for serious sanctions” – Scholz warns Russia of invasion when visiting Ukraine
Economically, the consequences of the crisis are likely to be minor for the time being. After the downing of MH17, commercial flights have been banned from overflying eastern Ukraine and Crimea since 2014. In general, airlines avoid Ukraine as much as possible because of the conflict with Russia that has been going on for years. This is shown by data from Flightradar. There were still jets in the west of the country on Monday evening, but only a few.
Traffic directly to the Ukraine has so far only made up a small part of the business of the major European airlines. Even the east-focused Hungarian Wizz Air accounts for less than five percent of total capacity on these routes.
However, there could be greater consequences should war actually break out. Experience has shown that a larger area is then declared a restricted zone. The airlines would have to accept longer detours.
This would primarily affect flights to Asia. The concrete consequences are difficult to assess. On the one hand, passenger traffic to Asia is still at a low level due to the pandemic – unlike in the direction of North America, for example. On the other hand, there is a lively freight traffic between Asia and Europe. The consequences of a war would be felt here and another setback for the currently fragile supply chains.
More: Why the US is reluctant to take the most effective measure in its struggle with Putin.