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…