Hungarian Wizz Air to evacuate employees stuck in war-struck Ukraine

Last week, war broke out between Russia and Ukraine and, as a result of the armed conflict, many airlines have stopped their services from and to the countries that are part of the conflict.

Closed airspace

Moreover, earlier this week, the entirety of Europe closed its airspace from Russian aeroplanes. We reported a little over a week ago that Hungarian-owned low-cost airline Wizz Air had also suspended its flights to and from Ukraine.

They said that “In view of recent developments in Ukraine and the closure of Ukrainian airspace, Wizz Air regrets to announce that it will suspend all flights in the country, […] The safety and security of our passengers and crew remain our number one priority, and we hope normality will return to Ukraine soon.”

Read also: Kremlin uses government help to spread Russian war propaganda in Hungary?

Helping refugees

After the conflict became more and more heated, and tens of thousands of people have fled from Ukraine, Hungarian-owned Wizz Air decided to join in the help and offer people fleeing from Ukraine a total of 100,000 free seats on their aeroplanes.

They said that the flight would depart from airports from countries bordering Ukraine, such as Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. The 100,000 free seats and the rescue fares will be available throughout March.

Passengers will be required to provide their Ukrainian passport/ID card number at the time of booking and show their Ukrainian passport/ID card at the time of check-in.

Read also: Orbán: all refugees from Ukraine taken care of in Hungary!

Staff members stuck in war-struck Ukraine

Forbes reported that the low-cost airline is planning to rescue their staff who were trapped in war-struck Ukraine. The number of their workers who are still in the warzone is unclear, but the company reported that they aim to help them get to safety.

The company was also affected in other ways since four Airbus A320-200 aeroplanes of their fleet were also stuck in Ukraine, three in Kyiv and one in Lviv.

According to a letter sent to Forbes, one of the employees of the company who asked to stay anonymous said that Wizz Air should have acted quicker as

several staff members of the company had to spend the night in the underground system of Kyiv while the Russian forces were bombing the city.

“We are in contact with the local forces, government, and air and safety authorities, and several of our pilots are ready to evacuate our other staff and aeroplanes from Ukraine as soon as there is a safe opportunity to do so,” Michael Delehant said.