Until now, the Air France company provided two rotations per week between Paris and Kiev, on Tuesday and Sunday. But “in view of the situation on site and as a precaution”, the company has decided to cancel the flights between Paris and Kiev and the return on Tuesday. “Air France will regularly re-evaluate the situation and recall that the safety and security of flights, of its customers and of its crews, is an absolute imperative”, she added. For the time being, the rotations scheduled for next Sunday are maintained.
Air France had decided this Saturday to maintain its Sunday morning flight, when the State had called on all French nationals to leave Ukrainian territory. KLM, the group’s other airline, decided on February 13 to suspend its flights to Ukraine. As a reminder, Lufthansa had already announced that it would suspend its flights to Ukraine from this Saturday.
500 of the 1000 expatriates would have already returned
On Sunday, the first French nationals returned from Ukraine. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, around 500 of the 1,000 expatriates have already returned to France because of threats of war with Russia. In any case, even if Air France decides to cancel all of its commercial flights, planes will be chartered in the event of a crisis to repatriate nationals still on site.
The French high school closed for the holidays on Tuesday instead of Friday and participants in European International Volunteering (VIE) programs were instructed to pack up several days ago.