The decision to terminate flights over and to the Republic of Belarus is political and does not concern the prevention of risks to flight safety, Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv).

"UIA will decide on the prospects for flights over the territory of Belarus, relying solely on the official position of the government and authorized regulatory authorities of Ukraine, since the decision to terminate flights over and to the Republic of Belarus is political and does not concern prevention of risks to flight safety," the agency told Interfax-Ukraine.

Now UIA is waiting for the decision of the Ukrainian authorities and will comply with it, based on the presence or absence, as well as the nature of the restrictions.

The only thing that the air carrier hopes for is that such a decision will not create a basis for non-competitive conditions for Ukrainian carriers in this flight area.

"This was already the case when a preliminary political decision was made [banning flights over the territory of Russia], which distorted competition on many routes, and some UIA was forced to leave altogether due to the economic unreasonableness of overflights. For this reason, flights were canceled at one time to Beijing, Bangkok, Astana, etc. At the same time, this political decision was applied exclusively to airlines, while leaving possible land and rail links," UIA said.

The airline said they would like to have transparent conditions for operating flights to the region, that is, the same as other European carriers.

The company also said UIA has not operated direct flights to Belarus since 2019 due to the lack of sufficient direct passenger traffic between the two countries.