Flydubai has confirmed that it is continuing with two of its three flights in and out of Ukraine.
Following the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, some airlines have cancelled operations to the Eastern European country, including Emirates and Air Arabia.
Flydubai, however, have said they will continue their flights to Kiev, in central Ukraine, and Odessa, in the south of the country. Flights to Kharkiv in the east, however, have been cancelled.
“Our flights to Kiev and Odessa are currently operating to schedule. Our flights to Kharkiv have been cancelled until further notice.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and follow the operating instructions issued by the relevant authorities,” a Flydubai spokesperson said.
Other airlines in the region took immediate action to cancel flights on Thursday last following the shooting down of a commercial airline in the conflict stricken country.
In a statement on its website, Emirates said: “Emirates flights to Kiev are suspended with immediate effect, till further notice due to the safety concerns raised with the latest reports on Malaysian flight MH17. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. The safety of our customers and crew is paramount, and we will continue to monitor the situation carefully.”
The Dubai-based airline also said its flights would not be flying over Ukraine airspace.
“In response to queries, all Emirates inbound and outbound flights do not operate over the Ukraine airspace.”
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways initially said that its planes did not fly over Ukrainian airspace. However, data from the FlightRadar24 suggested that it had flown 26 flights over the region over the past week.
In a statement to media over the weekend, Etihad said: “On 17 July 2014, in the aftermath of the MH17 incident, we stated that we did not operate services over Ukrainian airspace. This was incorrect and we would like to apologise for this miscommunication.
“Following advice from relevant regulatory and airspace authorities in March this year, we implemented flight paths to avoid restricted airspace around the Crimean Peninsula extending out into the Black Sea.
“We continued to operate flights on air routes over Ukrainian airspace, which we were advised by the authorities, were safe.
“We can confirm that we have now suspended all flights over Ukrainian airspace.”
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