Ukrainian airline starts flying for first time since invasion

Ukrainian airspace has been closed since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Apr 19, 2025 - 18:18

Ukrainian airline starts flying for first time since invasion

With full-scale war in Ukraine now entering its fourth year (aggression began after Russian troops entered and annexed Crimea in 2014), that also marks the amount of time that planes have not be able to fly in or out of the Eastern European country.

When Russian troops breached its territory, Ukraine immediately closed its airspace to all civilian aircraft due to the risk of missile attacks to civilians. Since that time, the only way to enter Ukraine has been to come in by road or rail — travelers from farther away will generally fly into neighboring countries like Poland, Moldova, and Romania and then take a bus for the remainder of the journey.

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'Despite everything': Ukrainian airline resumes service even amid full-scale war

While Ukrainian airspace remains closed and the war shows no signs of abating under the current Trump administration, Kyiv-based airline SkyUp has resumed flights for the first time since shutting down in February 2022.

As first reported by local outlets, the budget airline launched in 2018 was able to move its teams and aircraft to Moldova and has taken its first flights from Chisinau International Airport (RMO) on April 18.

The first flights went to Paris and Lisbon, while the schedule for the rest of the summer also includes destinations such as Barcelona, Alicante, and Palma de Mallorca in Spain; Athens, Heraklion, and Thessaloniki in Greece; Larnaca in Cyprus; and Berlin, Prague, and Stockholm — 13 European destinations in total.

In a statement, SkyUp said that it chose Chisinau as a "logistically convenient and reliable solution for organizing international routes" while the Moldovan government provided them sanctuary amid the war.

Estimates suggest that nearly seven million refugees have had to leave Ukraine since the start of the war in 2022.
PETER LAZAR/AFP via Getty Images

"Today's launch of regular flights from Chisinau is not just a new stage of the company's operations," SkyUp Airlines CEO Dmytro Seroukhov said in a statement. "It is proof that Ukrainian professionals and the company remain part of the world's aviation despite everything."

With wars raging in multiple parts of the world, here is where airlines are not flying

Over the same time period, both local and international airlines have cut off service to multiple parts of the world where conflict has broken out.

After Spirit Airlines (SAVE) and JetBlue Airways JetBlue Airways (JBLU) planes were grazed by bullets when landing at Haiti's Toussaint Louverture International Airport (PAP) in November 2024, the U.S.-based airlines suspended flights into the country being ripped apart by guerrilla warfare.

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Airlines like United Airlines (UAL) have only recently begun flying into Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) after the October 7 attacks by Hamas prompted the Israeli military to enter Gaza. Delta (DAL) resumed some limited service a few months later, while American Airlines (AAL) continues to monitor the situation (with the war now in its second year, the fighting continues to stop and restart amid temporary ceasefires).

"United will continue to monitor the situation in Tel Aviv and adjust the schedule as warranted including changes to the resumed service from New York/Newark," the airline said in February 2024. Since then, it has resumed service from other cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, and Chicago.