New blow to aircraft market: flight withdrawals and travel policy updates

Author

Yulia Ustymovych

Low-cost airline Wizz Air has completely canceled seven destinations from Zaporizhzhya, Lviv, Kyiv and Kharkiv. In addition, the company will hardly fly in January and February. And some flights will resume only in March 2021.

Turkish Airlines and Pegasus have also updated their ticket exchange rules.

Tickets for the following Wizz Air destinations have disappeared from the booking system:

Zaporizhzhia—Vilnius;
Zaporizhzhia—Gdansk;
Zaporizhzhia—Krakow;
Lviv—Copenhagen;
Lviv—Hamburg;
Kyiv—Leipzig;
Kharkiv—Milan.

At the same time, the low-cost airline canceled flights in January and February in 12 directions from Kyiv, 10 from Lviv, 6 flights from Kharkiv were canceled.

In particular, the resumption of flights from Kyiv to Riga and Salzburg is scheduled for February. Flights to Larnaca and Tallinn will operate again from March 2021, at the same time flights from Lviv to Lisbon will be resumed.

The start of flights from Zaporizhzhia to Dortmund, Vienna, Gdansk, Wroclaw, Krakow, Budapest, Milan, Vilnius was postponed to the end of March.

In addition, the start of the Odesa—Abu Dhabi flight was postponed to February. It has become the only winter route of the company.

However, some airlines, on the contrary, began to launch flights in winter. Thus, UIA starts flights from Kyiv to Baku on December 30.

New rules for ticket exchange and refund

How to exchange tickets at Turkish Airlines

Due to the new strain emergence and an increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the world, countries began to massively close their borders. Against this backdrop, airlines are also introducing new measures.

Turkish Airlines has changed the rules for the air tickets exchange and refund due to the country's authorities decision to introduce mandatory testing for coronavirus for passengers traveling to Turkey.

The new requirements stipulate that all persons over the age of 6 must have a negative coronavirus test that is no more than 72 hours old.

If the passenger does not have a certificate, they will be offered the option to exchange or return tickets. In addition, the passenger will be able to change the departure date for flights on March 20, 2021 maintaining the route or changing the route to the same IATA region without surcharges.

If the passenger does not want to exchange the ticket, then they can cancel the flight and receive a voucher with a face value of 115% of the ticket price.

The voucher can be used at Turkish Airlines offices for new bookings. If the price of the new ticket is less than the value of the voucher, the passenger will receive a new voucher for the amount of the difference.

It is also possible to cancel the flight and convert the ticket per mile at the rate of 1 euro—100 miles in the Miles & Smiles loyalty program.

In particular, such options are available to passengers who have tested positive for coronavirus and to contact persons. They just need to contact the airline by phone, e-mail or through the feedback form on the Turkish Airlines website.

How to exchange tickets at Pegasus

Low-cost airline Pegasus also allowed to reschedule the departure dates forward or backward a few days free of charge without fines and surcharges for changes in Turkey's requirements. Subject to seat availability on flights, the passenger can depart until December 30, 2020.

If the tourist does not have time to pass the tests and his departure is after December 30, he will be able to postpone the trip forward within seven days from the initial date of departure.

It is also possible to convert a ticket to an open date reservation. Essentially, the airline provides the customer with a voucher of the ticket price face value that can be used for future bookings.