Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will close its base in Chisinau for an undetermined period "due to security measures and because of the uncertainty over Moldovan airspace created by Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine," Telegram channel Runway09 announced.

This means that the aircraft will no longer be serviced and based in Chisinau, but most of the flights to and from Chisinau will still be operated from other bases - Iasi and maybe Bacau, both in Romania.

Actually, immediately after the war began in Ukraine, Moldova closed its airspace for several months, and the flights were operated from Romanian airports in Iasi, Bacau and Suceava.

This time, Wizz Air is also under pressure to boost its activity in Romania, where local airline Blue Air left many routes not serviced when suspending flights on September 6. Wizz Air has announced many new flights from Romania over the past couple of months, and this certainly requires supplementary resources.

Wizz Air, however, explained that the main reason for the decision is related to security. "In recent weeks, during the night, Wizz Air was taking its aircraft in Romania to Iasi for security reasons," the airline's representatives told Runway09.

The decision comes after Russian missiles crossed Moldovan airspace in October (several weeks ago), and the option of closing the Moldovan national airspace returned to the authorities' agenda.

Indeed, this step will also impact the availability and frequency of the flights to and from Chisinau: some flights will be cancelled, and others will have a lower frequency after December 1.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Dreamstime.com)