Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air announced on Monday the suspension of all its connections with Moldova, citing security reasons amid heightened tensions with Moscow.
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“Due to recent developments and the high, although not imminent, risk in the country’s airspace, Wizz Air has taken the difficult but responsible decision to suspend all flights to Chisinau from March 14,” explains the group in a press release.
Republic of 2.6 million inhabitants with a pro-European government located between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova has feared since the beginning of the offensive to be the next target of Moscow and has reported in recent weeks of ” destabilization attempts.
It had closed its airspace in the early hours of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Flights resumed on March 21, but since then the country has been overflown by Russian missiles, notably in October 2022 and last January.
Debris from aerial projectiles has also been found on Moldovan territory on several occasions.
On February 14, the airspace was briefly closed as a precaution after the detection of “a flying object resembling a weather balloon”.
The Ministry of Infrastructure said it “regrets the decision” of Wizz Air, assuring in a press release that the flights, “which respect a certain number of procedures could be carried out in complete safety”.
It is the first company to make such a decision. Wizz Air operated 18 routes from Chisinau with three aircraft based at the airport, a third of total capacity, according to a September 2022 statement.
The Romanian national airline Tarom as well as Air Moldova and Turkish Airlines continue to serve the Moldovan capital.