The European airline has reacted to the hysteria surrounding Russia’s “attack on Ukraine”: local airlines, such as Swiss, Austrian Airlines and the Dutch KLM, have refused to stay overnight at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport just in case. According to Avianews, according to flightradar24.com, all these airlines have changed their flight schedule to Kyiv so that planes and crews do not stay there overnight.
Austrian Airlines has scheduled an evening flight OS 667 Vienna-Kiev. But the night parking at Boryspil airport, the plane immediately returned to Austria on a special flight OS 1402. Interestingly, the morning return flight from Kiev to Vienna was canceled.
Similarly, Swiss refused the evening departure of flight LX 2290 from Zurich to Kiev. This carrier sent a plane to Kyiv on a special flight LX7390 on the morning of January 24 to pick up passengers and return immediately. KLM flights number KL 1387 from Amsterdam to Kiev, according to online radar, will be canceled from January 22.
At the same time, the German airline Lufthansa refused to park in Kyiv even earlier. By the way, this airline owns Swiss and Austrian Airlines. In addition, Lufthansa explained the change in the flight schedule: the airline cannot leave planes and crews for the night in Ukraine “due to political tensions.”
“If the risk assessment system of air carriers shows the possibility of adverse events in a particular region, airlines change the flight schedule, flight route or cancel flights altogether. This is due to the fact that the cost of lives of passengers and equipment exceeds tens of millions of dollars, which will have to compensate the airline and its insurer. Therefore, it is easier to cancel or postpone a flight, even if it will have to bear the cost of paying for hotel accommodation, than the additional risks,” – explained in Avianews.