The Belarusian airline Belavia has introduced a ban on flights to a number of Ukrainian cities, according to the carrier’s website.
We are talking about flights to / from Kiev, Lvov, Odessa and Kharkov. They will not take place from May 26 to August 31, 2021. Also, from May 25, night flights B2 847 to Kiev and B2 833 to Odessa are canceled.
Passengers who purchased tickets on the indicated dates will be able to return their full price without penalties or change the date of departure during the validity of the ticket.
Earlier, Ukraine announced the suspension of flights with Belarus from May 26, and also banned flights in the airspace of the republic. As explained by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmyhal, such measures were taken to “ensure the safety of flights and passengers.”
On May 23, at the Minsk airport, at the direction of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, a Ryanair plane was urgently landed, with Roman Protasevich, ex-editor in chief of the Nexta Telegram channel, on board. After the landing of the liner, he was detained. According to the Belarusian authorities, the reason for the landing of the liner was information about the threat of a terrorist attack. Subsequently, this information was not confirmed. A friend of Mr. Protasevich, a citizen of Russia, Sofia Sapega, was also detained. Now the 23-year-old girl is in the Minsk detention center on Akrestin Street. Amid the incident, flights over Belarus were suspended by Air France, Finnair and Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa and AirBaltic.
About whether flights to Europe will become even more expensive and more difficult after the incident with the Ryanair flight – in the material of Kommersant, “Russia is losing a transport hub.”
.