Long-haul Asia flights face disruption as airlines avoid Ukraine airspace
With airlines skipping Ukrainian airspace, long-haul flights to Southeast Asia are expected to face disruption.
It will lead to longer flight times and possibly more expensive fares.
Flight-tracking websites are showing much fewer flights entering Ukraine airspace with some long-haul flights going through Romania and Moldova instead.
This includes British Airways flights, which are taking longer because of ‘current geopolitics.’
KLM said it was postponing all Ukraine flights and avoiding the country’s airspace, while Lufthansa is reviewing schedules.
Aviation experts expect more airlines to reroute flight paths away from Ukraine as threats of a Russian invasion grow.
"My guess would be that Ukraine will become unavailable pretty soon if what we’ve seen over the weekend crystallizes into a couple of more carriers actually pulling the pin," said Mark Zee, founder of flight operations advisory firm OPSGROUP.
The Ukraine government has made available $592m emergency funding as insurers suspend cover for airlines entering Ukrainian airspace.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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