Dozens of flights to and from Poland have diverted as far away as Copenhagen, or been delayed or cancelled after Russia aimed a “huge number” of drones at the country in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Airspace over part of the country was closed in response, grounding flights at:
- Warsaw Chopin
- Warsaw Modlin
- Lublin
- Rzeszow.
The UK Foreign Office warns: “Poland’s airports are open but there may be travel disruption. Follow official Polish government announcements and updates from airlines.”
In a statement at 9am local time, the nation’s main airport said: “The airspace over Warsaw Chopin Airport has been reopened.
“Due to the situation related to the restrictions and prior closure of the airspace, disruptions and delays are to be expected, which may last throughout the day.”
LOT Polish Airlines is worst affected, but many other carriers are also disrupted, including the budget airlines Wizz Air and Ryanair.
How many diversions have there been?
At Warsaw Chopin, incoming flights diverted to the following airports:
- Katowice: LOT from Sharm El Sheikh and Tokyo; Enter Air from Gran Canaria and Antalya; ASL from Paris; Wizz Air from Reykjavik.
- Poznan: LOT from Beirut, Sofia and Yerevan.
- Wroclaw: LOT from Tbilisi and Riyadh.
- Gdansk: LOT from Reykjavik.
- Copenhagen: Air China from Beijing.
The last of these flights had flown from the Chinese capital over both Russia and its ally, Belarus.
At Warsaw Modlin, a Ryanair flight from Porto diverted to Poznan.
These aircraft are expected to fly to Warsaw later.
What flight cancellations are there?
LOT has cancelled morning departures from Warsaw Chopin to Vienna, Paris CDG, Budapest and Lublin, as well as the inbound flights.
Several foreign airlines grounded flights to Warsaw, including:
- Austrian Airlines from Vienna
- Finnair from Helsinki
- KLM from Amsterdam
- Qatar Airways from Doha.
Is disruption continuing?
Yes. The “first wave” of departures from Warsaw Chopin were delayed by up to four hours, which will have a knock-in impact on flights later in the day. As a result some UK departures back to Warsaw are delayed by several hours, including LOT from Heathrow and Wizz Air from Liverpool and Luton.
The British Airways morning departure from Warsaw to Heathrow left an hour late. The wait will jeopardise some passengers’ connections at the UK hub and delay the aircraft’s next operation from Heathrow, to Nice and back.
What are my options if I have a flight to Poland booked?
The presumption is that you will take it as planned. No airline is offering flexibility because of the drone incident. “Disinclination to travel” is not covered by travel insurance.
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