Asian airlines cancel Russia, Ukraine flights as war heats up

Asian airlines are canceling more international flights to cities in Russia and Ukraine in the wake of Moscow's invasion of its western neighbor. "SIA apologizes to all affected customers for the inconvenience caused," Singapore Airlines announced Monday after it suspended until further notice service between Singapore and Moscow. Turkish Airlines said flights between the southern Russian city of Sochi and Minsk, the capital of Belarus, had been canceled, along with service between Chisinau, Moldova, and Rostov, a Russian city not far from eastern Ukraine. The carrier had already announced that it was forced to suspend service to six Ukrainian cities: Kyiv, Kharkov, Lviv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, after the country's airspace was closed Thursday. Although the Turkish flag carrier normally operates 86 flights to Ukraine every week, it announced as of Tuesday that flights would be halted until March 15. Despite the large number of cancellations, the Turkish carrier said in a statement: "We are continuing our preparations to evacuate our citizens in Ukraine after flight security is maintained and necessary permissions are granted." While Thai Airways International does not operate direct flights to Russia or Ukraine, the company's board member in charge of the company's rehabilitation, Piyasvasti Amranand, said at a news conference on Monday: "Since 2014, Thai Airways has not flown over Ukrainian skies." In 2014, 298 people on a Malaysia Airlines jet flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur were killed after it was shot down over eastern Ukraine by suspected pro-Russian separatists.<br/>