Routes, security, prices: How is the Ukraine war affecting travel? 

Created: 05/06/2022, 09:41

By: Franziska Kaindl

The Ukraine war also triggers uncertainty among travelers: should I still fly on vacation?

Is travel in Europe safe – or even morally justifiable?

These and other questions are currently being asked by many people who have planned a vacation.

The travel industry itself can only speculate how the situation in Ukraine will affect the travel year 2022.

After the federal government had deleted all countries from the Corona high-risk area list *, the signs were actually quite good.

But to what extent the war will now "influence the Germans' great desire to travel after two years, no one can say," said Norbert Fiebig, President of the German Travel Association (DRV) according to the

.

What applies to trips to Ukraine?

The

warns against traveling to Ukraine due to the hostilities and rocket attacks.

.

The airspace is temporarily closed.

An evacuation by German authorities is currently not possible.

The Federal Foreign Office also warns against

– ostensibly because of the corona pandemic – but you should also not go to southern Russia and the border regions with Ukraine.

There is also a warning against traveling to Belarus – the border crossings to Ukraine are closed.

Additional control measures at the border crossings with Lithuania, Poland and Latvia were also announced.

At the same time, however, some travel providers are certain: “These questions are in the background.

People are dying in Ukraine, people you know, hundreds of thousands have to flee, that's what's important right now," says Marten-Lange Siebenthalter from the Dreizackreisen tour operator, which specializes in trips to Eastern Europe, according to

.

Tourism in the region collapsed in 2014 when Crimea was annexed by Russia.

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Apart from that, the Ukraine war can also affect travelers who do not want to vacation in the region at all.

The EU

, neither overflight nor landing are allowed.

In response, Russia has also closed its airspace to civilian aircraft from Germany and 35 other countries.

This closure of the east-west flight corridor means an additional burden for airlines: “Flights to the Far East, which usually fly via Russia, take detours via alternative routes.

This leads to longer flight times and longer routes.

This in turn increases the fuel requirement and thus the costs for the airlines," says Wolf-Dietrich Kindt, Head of Strategy and Communication at the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL), according to

.

According to current information, flights to Japan, South Korea or China would mainly be diverted via Turkey, as reported by the online portal

.

For air travelers, this means in concrete terms:

.

"Detours or longer flight routes mean higher consumption of kerosene, which will affect prices," explains Michael Trinkwalder from A3M, a service provider for early warning information for travel worldwide, to the portal.

However, anyone who has already booked a ticket usually does not have to expect a subsequent price surcharge, according to Karolina Wojtal from the European Consumer Center Germany, according to the

.

According to her experience, the necessary price adjustment clauses are not included in the contractual conditions of flight tickets.

Ukraine war: How safe is travel at the moment?

The European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) has

.

The authority recommends the airlines to keep at least 370 kilometers distance to the Ukrainian borders when flying.

The reason for this is the threat of rocket launches to and from Ukraine.

However, if the conflict area is not flown over, the danger cannot be assumed to be greater than usual.

Also interesting

Is a holiday currently morally justifiable?

Every day, people around the world receive new pictures from the contested areas in Ukraine, and thousands of refugees also come to Germany.

A lot of people are asking themselves:

?

At least, according to psychologist and travel blogger Barbara Horvatis-Ebner, it is "simply not healthy to deal with war reporting 24 hours a day and be overwhelmed by your fears".

She explains to the

: "

.” Because it would help many people to distract themselves from the dramatic pictures with beautiful holiday pictures on Instagram or other things such as cooking, meeting friends – or even planning a holiday.

Especially with the corona pandemic and its lockdowns and bans, as well as natural disasters such as the flooding in the Ahr Valley, feelings of helplessness have accumulated among people.

Many people also have a great deal of wanderlust - and according to Antje Monshausen, head of the Tourism Watch office of Bread for the World, it makes neither personal nor economic sense to forego travel: "In the current situation, solidarity is important to show, to get involved privately and to donate.

But that has nothing to do with the desire to travel.

Nobody benefits from a general travel ban”.