Ryanair, Wizz join Ukraine relief push with aid, refugee flights

Ryanair Holdings Plc said it will help airlift medical supplies bound for Ukraine, while fellow discounter Wizz Air Holdings Plc has offered 100,000 free tickets to refugees once they reach neighboring countries.

Dublin-based Ryanair is working with Irish and U.K. humanitarian organizations to accommodate shipments in the holds of scheduled flights to southeast Poland, from where the local military will take them on to the Ukrainian border, Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Leary said in a briefing Wednesday.

“Wherever we can we’re trying to take as much humanitarian business as we can free of charge in the belly of our aircraft,” O’Leary said. “We’re working with the Polish authorities and the Ukrainian embassies in Dublin and in London to facilitate those relief measures.”

The flights will help address a burgeoning humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, with casualties mounting and people trying to escape the invasion launched by Russia last week. Around three-quarters of a million people have fled the war into the European Union since Russia’s invasion began. More than 4 million people could eventually be displaced, United Nations agencies have projected.

Bigger Planes

Budapest-based Wizz, the biggest low-cost carrier in eastern Europe, is making the tickets available from Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania as people flee the war. Flights are available to almost all onward destinations this month, with the exception of Iceland, the Canary Islands and the United Arab Emirates.

Wizz also plans to boost operations from countries adjoining Ukraine, laying on bigger jets and adding flights amid the stream of refugees, and will reduce fares for Ukrainian citizens flying from other locations in its network.

Once it’s safe to do so, Wizz will use four of its jets stranded at bases in Kyiv and Lviv by the invasion to help with evacuations, the company said in a statement. Staff have been making their way out overland.

“In this very concerning situation we have been focused on helping our colleagues and their families in Ukraine, to move to places of safety,” Chief Executive Officer Jozsef Varadi said in a statement.

Wizz previously operated from six airports in Ukraine, serving 110 routes. 

Ryanair flew to four airports in Ukraine before last week with aircraft based mainly in Germany, Poland and Romania. They will be re-directed to Mediterranean resorts for the summer, according to O’Leary.