Wizz Air flies empty Airbus from Ukraine to Poland despite closed airspace
The aircraft didn't switch on its transponders before it reached Polish territory.
While Ukraine’s airspace remains closed, it saw an international flight today. Wizz Air has decided to move one of its four aircraft stranded in the war-torn country. The nine-year-old Airbus A320 HA-LWS flew from Lviv, Ukraine, to Katowice, Poland.
The plane has been grounded for over half a year, since the Russian attack on Ukraine. Flightradar24.com informed of the flight, which took about an hour. According to its course, the pilots only turned on transponders after crossing the border to Polish territory.
Before the war, Ukraine was one of the fast-growing markets for the Hungarian carrier. Wizz Air has three more aircraft on the ground; since the outbreak of the war, they have been based at Kyiv’s Zhulyany airport. “Wizz Air confirms that following an in-depth risk analysis and comprehensive preparations, the aircraft has left Lviv Airport,” the carrier said in a brief statement.
The flight comes just weeks after the carrier faced heavy criticism over plans to resume flights to Russia.
Edited and translated by Lucie Trávníčková.