Airlines weigh down service to Kiev as Russia-Ukraine tensions

The airline cited a national government’s travel warning on Saturday about the risk of flying in the region. The airline’s next flight to the Ukrainian capital, scheduled for Saturday evening, will not proceed, the airline said, adding that it is unclear when KLM will resume flights. The move follows new guidance by the Dutch government warning citizens not to travel to the country.

KLM and others, including Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa AG, began rescheduling flights last month to avoid crew staying overnight in the capital due to security concerns over the build-up of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border.

Lufthansa said on Saturday it was monitoring the situation in Ukraine and investigating whether to suspend air traffic. A decision has not been taken, a spokesman said. It is currently proceeding with plans for several flights into Ukraine for the end of Saturday.

The US ordered most of the embassy staff to leave Ukraine, after warning that a Russian military offensive could be imminent. Moscow also began to withdraw its diplomatic presence. Washington warned on Friday that Russia could launch a large-scale military operation against Ukraine in the coming days. Russia has denied that it intends to attack its neighbour.

For the Netherlands, the home of the KLM, the region is particularly sensitive. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashed in eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing 298 crew and passengers, many of whom were Dutch nationals. The incident was investigated by the Dutch Safety Board, which found that the jet was hit by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile. Ukrainian and Dutch prosecutors have accused Russian-backed militants operating in the region of launching the missiles.

“KLM has not been flying over Ukraine and the eastern regions of Crimea since 2014. There are no longer KLM flights through Ukrainian airspace until further notice,” the airline said. “KLM always puts the safety of passengers and employees first in the conduct of its operations.”

The airline said a comprehensive security analysis by a group including Dutch airlines, intelligence services, the Defense Ministry and other national departments found the area was no longer safe to operate.

The move to cancel the flights has come as governments including the US, UK and the Netherlands have asked citizens to evacuate Ukraine as soon as possible. This poses a dilemma for foreigners trying to leave the country and many rely on national carriers to ferry them out. KLM currently has no evacuation flight plans to bring back civilians, according to a spokesperson.

The closure of operations in Ukrainian airspace also increases the complexity of navigating flight routes through Eastern Europe. Airlines began avoiding Belarusian airspace last year when a Ryanair Holdings plc plane carrying a Belarusian dissident was rerouted to Minsk following a UN investigation into a fake bomb threat. The incident, which some capitals called a state-sponsored kidnapping, sparked sanctions against the Russian ally.

Airlines have generally used airspace in both Belarus and Ukraine on routes to parts of Asia and the Middle East, and have had to adjust flight paths, increasing the length of flights and the cost of operations.