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The Hungarian ultra-low-cost carrier, Wizz Air, has said that it will suspend flights to Moldova from March 14 due to airspace safety concerns.
Through an official statement issued yesterday, March 1, the Hungarian government said that Wizz Air announced that after an assessment of the security level of the Moldovan airspace, all flights to and from Chisinau International Airport would be suspended, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“As a result of recent developments in Moldova and the high, but not imminent, risk in the country’s airspace, Wizz Air has taken the difficult but responsible decision to suspend all flights to Chisinau starting on March 14,” the airline said in a statement.
Wizz Air is the first airline to say that it would suspend flights to Moldova. In contrast, the Romanian national airline – Tarom, as well as Air Moldova and Turkish Airlines, continue to fly to the Moldovan capital.
In addition, Moldova’s Infrastructure Ministry responded by expressing discontent at Wizz Air’s decision while saying it would cooperate with it and other budget airlines to continue services.
The same emphasised that after analysing the dangers, government agencies have decided that flights in the national airspace can continue to be carried out safely by following a series of procedures, adding that they regret the sudden decision of Wizz Air.
As WizzAir explains, regarding the cancelled flights from Chisinau to Budapest and Prague, they will not be changed, but the airline will open new routes from the nearby city of Iasi in Romania.
It has been stressed that the risk has come as a result of rising tensions between Russia and the pro-European government of Moldova. In recent months, Russian missiles have also entered Moldova’s airspace, and thus Chisinau has accused the Kremlin of inciting anti-government protests, which Russia denies.
Moldova’s territory has been hit several times by war debris in Ukraine, and the latter has occasionally closed its airspace during the conflict in Ukraine.
Last week, Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu noted that his country was prepared for a “full spectrum of threats” during the crisis with Russia.
In Moldova, there were also power outages after Ukraine stopped exporting electricity due to Russian airstrikes on critical infrastructure.
Last month, Moldovan President Maia Sandu accused Russia of planning to violently overthrow the country’s pro-European leadership with the help of attackers masquerading as anti-government protesters. On the other hand, Moscow denied the claim.
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