Turkish Airlines extends flight suspension to Ukraine, Moldova

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s flag carrier has announced that it has further extended its suspension of flights to and from Ukraine and Moldova amid the conflict that broke out in the region.

Starting from Feb. 24, Turkish Airlines halted flights to those countries. On Feb. 28, it said it extended the suspension until Mach 15.

In a statement on March 3, the carrier said flights to and from Ukraine and Moldova were further suspended until March 18.

It also canceled a flight from Istanbul to Russia’s Sochi, scheduled for March 6.

Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines on March 3 evacuated members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) from Sochi.
An airplane belonging to the flag carrier brought 130 OSCE members of different nationalities from Sochi to Istanbul.

OSCE members were on a mission in Ukraine’s breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. When the security situation deteriorated and clashes began, they first traveled to the Russian city of Rostov via land. As flights were canceled, they moved to Sochi from where the Turkish carrier airlifted them.

Ahmet Bolat, the chairman of Turkish Airlines’ board of directors and the executive committee, said that the Ukraine conflict’s impact on the carrier is likely to be limited.

“We have had experienced a similar crisis in the past. We will weather this one too,” he said.

Bolat noted that the share of Russia and Ukraine in Turkish Airlines’ global operations is around 2 to 3 percent and even smaller in cargo operations. “That is why the crisis impact on Turkish Airlines should not be large,” he said.