UAE airlines say closely monitoring ukraine situation

UAE airlines on Sunday said they’re closely monitoring the situation about Ukraine-Russia military conflict as well as the usage of the Ukrainian airspace.

Due to the escalating situation on the Ukraine-Russian border, the UAE Embassy in Ukraine last week asked its citizens to “postpone travel to Ukraine at the present time” due to the worsening situation.

The budget carrier flydubai, which operates flights to two Ukrainian cities, said it cancelled services to the capital Kyiv, also known as Kiev, for a day on Wednesday. Flydubai flights are currently operating to Ukraine.

Airlines around the world are cautiously watching the developments. Emirates doesn’t operate flights to Ukraine.

“We continue to monitor the situation. Please note that we operate a double daily service to Kyiv and 3 weekly flights to Odesa. As you are aware our services to Kyiv were cancelled on 16 February,” a flydubai spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday.

Abu Dhabi-based national airline Etihad Airways has no flights operating to or over Ukraine, but Etihad said it “vigilantly monitors global airspace restrictions and threats. The safety and wellbeing of our guests is always Etihad’s highest priority.”