Ukraine conflict
Lufthansa no longer flies to Kiev and Odessa for the time being
A Lufthansa Airbus A320, which is also used on the routes to the Ukraine.
© Imago Images
Concerned about the security situation in Ukraine, several airlines in the Lufthansa Group are suspending their connections to the capital and the third largest city in Ukraine. But one airport in Ukraine is still served.
Against the background of the worsening Ukraine crisis, Lufthansa will no longer be flying to the airports in Kiev and Odessa from Monday. “Due to the current situation in Ukraine, the airlines in the Lufthansa Group will initially suspend their regular flights to Kiev and Odessa until the end of February,” the company announced at the weekend.
Some time ago, the airlines in the Lufthansa Group, which also includes Austrian Airlines and Swiss International Air Lines, had rescheduled their evening flights with return flights the next morning so that the crews did not have to spend the night in a hotel, similar to flights to Israel. As a result, some of the flights arrived in Kiev at around 2 a.m. and the westbound departures were very early in the morning.
The news comes at an inopportune time for people planning to leave Ukraine by air. Because Germany and France called on their citizens in Ukraine on Saturday to leave the country immediately.
However, the route via Lviv Airport in western Ukraine remains open. Lufthansa has not reduced the connections between Lviv – the Ukrainian name for Lemberg – and Munich and to Frankfurt.
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Memories of MH17 over eastern Ukraine
A week ago, the Dutch company KLM stopped its two daily flights to Ukraine without replacement. “This decision is based on the travel advice adapted to Code Red and a comprehensive safety analysis,” said the airline.
In the Netherlands, memories of the downing of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 in July 2014 by Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine are very fresh. The jet with many Dutch people on board was then on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people on board flight MH17 were killed at the time.
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