Ryanair, an Irish-based low-cost airline, has removed Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Kherson airports from the ticket booking system on its website and mobile application, the CFTS portal reports, citing the lowcost.ua website.
Tickets for flights from two Ukrainian cities disappeared from the low-cost airline’s booking system in early February, but tickets for flights to all destinations from Kharkiv and Kherson remained. In response to attempts to book flights for the upcoming dates or the summer, the airline's booking system stated that there were no flights available.
The airline probably removed tickets for flights from these cities from its booking system because of the reports of a possible Russian attack on Ukraine. The Kharkiv airport is located 40 kilometers from Ukraine’s border with Russia and the Kherson airport is located 90 kilometers from the Crimea.
Only tickets for flights from Kyiv, Lviv, and Odesa are available in Ryanair’s booking system.
As was reported earlier, the low-cost airline’s head Michael O’Leary recently said that it made no sense to stop flying to Ukraine unless the European authorities stated that it was not safe to fly to the country. "It is important not to panic. People need to get home and people want to leave and fly abroad to the EU ... airlines have to provide that service," O'Leary said.
He also confirmed the airline’s previously announced plan to base up to 20 aircraft in Ukraine. According to him, Ukraine remains a “huge potential market as long as there is no Soviet invasion.”
