Ryanair, an Irish-based low-cost airline, will suspend flights on more than 70% of its routes from Ukraine in the second half of September.
According to the avianews.com website, this was shown by an analysis of the airline's booking system.
Eight of the 31 routes (the routes from the Boryspil airport to Paphos, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, London, and Manchester, and the route from Lviv to London) will continue to operate.
The low-cost airline will suspend flights on 11 routes from Kyiv, even routes from Odesa, three routes from Lviv, and two routes from Kharkiv.
According to the booking system, the suspended routes will reopen between late September and early October 2020.
In response to avianews.com’s request for comments on this change of timetable, Ryanair's press office said that the low-cost airline would cut its flight capacity by almost 20% in September and October because of a drop in new bookings.
"Ryanair confirmed that most of these cuts would be frequency reductions rather than route closures, and they will be heavily focused on those countries such as Spain, France and Sweden, where rising recent Covid case rates have led to increased travel restrictions…” the airline said in a statement.
Market sources told avianews.com that Ryanair's decision to cut its flights to Ukraine significantly was linked to the Ukrainian government's decision to ban foreigners from entering the country until the end of September.
However, the change of timetable will take effect in the second half of September because, according to Ukrainian and European legislation, the airline does not have to pay compensation for flight cancellations if it cancels flights at least 14 days before the departure dates.
If this condition is met, passengers can only expect refund of the cost of air tickets or free rebooking for alternative flights when their flights are canceled.
Following is the of the Ryanair routes that will be suspended for several weeks in September 2020:
Kharkiv-Budapest
Kharkiv-Milan
Kyiv-Vienna
Kyiv-Athens
Kyiv-Dublin
Kyiv-Bologna
Kyiv-Catania
Kyiv-Bergamo
Kyiv-Rome
Kyiv-Vilnius
Kyiv-Gdansk
Kyiv-Katowice
Kyiv-Krakow
Lviv-Bologna
Lviv-Bergamo
Lviv-Rome
Odesa-Berlin
Odesa-Budapest
Odesa-Bologna
Odesa-Bergamo
Odesa-Rome
Odesa-Gdansk
Odesa-Katowice.