Extra flights out of Ukraine fill up ahead of feared invasion

Latvian flag carrier airBaltic is setting up extra flights out of Kyiv this week to accommodate a passenger spike after European countries told their nationals to leave Ukraine or risk war. The United States warned last week that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could be imminent and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on the country’s people to fly flags and sing the national anthem in unison on Feb. 16, the date that some Western media say Russian could invade. The warnings prompted airBaltic’s regular Tuesday flight to Riga to sell out, so the company, on short notice, scheduled extra rotations on Tuesday and Wednesday to cope with the higher demand. By noon on Tuesday 66 people had booked seats for the extra flight. With only two bookings made to fly to Kyiv, the 145-seater Airbus flew to pick up passengers from Ukraine almost empty. Neighbouring Estonia, one of several countries that has warned their citizens to flee Ukraine, asked its remaining citizens to get on the extra airBaltic flights and come home. Airliners bound for Kyiv leave Riga with a full tank of fuel to be able to turn around quickly should the situation suddenly change for the worse, airBaltic CE Martin Gauss told Reuters. “In extreme case, even if we have an aircraft in the air, we can order it to come back,” he said. The company expected the below-100-euro tickets to make the extra flights profitable. Bookings for flights between Kyiv and Riga for later this week are proceeding at a normal pace, with people choosing to fly both ways, said Gauss.<br/>