Ukraine’s biggest airline said on Monday that its insurers had terminated cover for at least some of its aircraft on flights in Ukrainian airspace, as Russia masses a huge military force on the country’s border.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) said it had received the notification from its insurers as experts said more airlines were expected to avoid Ukraine’s airspace following a U.S. warning that Moscow could invade its neighbour any time.
“UIA is making efforts and is constantly negotiating with insurance companies, the ministry of infrastructure of Ukraine, the state aviation administration and hopes for mutual understanding,” the Ukrainian airline said in a statement.
Earlier, Dutch airline KLM said it would halt flights to Ukraine and through its airspace, while Germany’s Lufthansa said it was considering a suspension.
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British Airways (BA) flights between London and Asia on Monday appeared to be avoiding the airspace, according to Reuters monitoring of flight tracking service FlightRadar24.
The same website showed tracks of a U.S. Air Force Global Hawk intelligence-gathering military drone sweeping back and forth across the country from west to east on Monday.
UIA said that, at the request of aircraft leasing firms, five Boeing 737-800 had been flown to Spain, while two other planes had been sent to Serbia for scheduled maintenance. UIA has 25 planes in its fleet, according to its website.
Leasing firms control the majority of the world’s fleet.
The situation for the rest of the airline’s fleet was not immediately clear, while UIA said it would report any further changes, but asked passengers to closely follow its website for any news on the airline and its schedule.
