SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) plans to resume flights to Georgia and Albania from July 1, 2020, and to other countries stipulated by the schedule before lockdown is introduced from July 15, if cancellation of entry bans is carried out according to preliminary arrangements between countries.
According to the company’s press release on Saturday, June 20, passengers are advised to review the requirements for entering the country of destination and the rules for returning to Ukraine before purchasing a ticket, as well as make sure that they have all the necessary approvals for the trip.
“If a passenger purchases a ticket to a country, rules of entry into which the passenger cannot comply with, the refund for an unused air ticket will be carried out according to the fare, but can last up to six months,” SkyUp said.
According to the airline’s data, since March 2020, SkyUp Airlines has received about 286,000 applications regarding compensation for tickets that were not used through the flight ban. However, passengers have already received EUR 13,186 and UAH 1.9 million of reimbursements, while some 4,700 passengers have issued promotional codes for a total of UAH 38.1 million.
The company also said that since the beginning of lockdown, their support service has been operating in the overloaded mode, that is, during all that time up to 13,000 applications were received daily. Therefore, due to the fact that it was physically impossible to process all of them within the period of three to five days, as under normal conditions, the time for feedback increased.
In order to resolve this issue, SkyUp is introducing the application processing automated system. This means that the passenger, after registering on the airline’s website in a personal online account, will be able to independently choose the type of reimbursement that suits him, and passengers who have previously applied for a refund, according to their wish, change the status of the application for a promotional code or transfer dates if, on a previously submitted application, a refund invoice has not been issued yet. Functionality will be available approximately in three weeks.
“The introduction of lockdown at the international level significantly affected the aviation in general, and SkyUp is no exception in this global crisis of air transportation. For us and for many airlines as well, that period made it impossible to fully perform operational activities. Therefore, we have neither the opportunity nor the economic means in order to immediately refund to all people who made the request. We understand the wish of passengers to return their funds as soon as possible. Now we need to be patient, because this process will take longer than usual. We will return the funds gradually,” the airline’s press service said, citing Director General of SkyUp Airlines Yevhen Khainatsky.
Almost half of Ukrainians note deterioration in the health system from the beginning of lockdown measures.
This is evidenced by the results of a study conducted by Active Group sociological company and presented at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Monday, June 22.
Head of Active Group sociological company Oleksandr Pozniy said that in particular, some 28.4% of respondents believe that with the beginning of lockdown the situation in the health system has deteriorated slightly, while some 21.4% of respondents believe that the situation has deteriorated significantly.
However, some 25.9% of respondents believe that with the beginning of lockdown the situation improved, while some 24.3% found it difficult to answer.
Pozniy said that some 34.6% of Ukrainians surveyed assessed the first stage of medical reform positively or generally positively, while some 46.4% of respondents rated the first stage of the reform more negatively or negatively.
The reform was assessed as positive one by respondents aged 30-39 years, while respondents over 50 years old gave the largest number of negative assessments to the first stage of medical reform.
According to Active Group, the survey was conducted by telephone interview on June 7-9. Some 1,236 respondents were interviewed in all regions of Ukraine, except for the uncontrolled territories and Crimea. The study is representative by age, gender and place of residence. The sampling error does not exceed 2.8%.
The consumer confidence index in Ukraine in May 2020 improved by 10.1 points, to 76.3 points on a 200-point scale, and Ukrainians’ assessment of their current situation by 5.9 points, to 57.4 points, according to the research agency Info Sapiens.
“The consumer confidence Index in May increased and reached the level of March 2020. The main factor of growth is the improvement of expectations regarding personal financial situation, which is probably related to the termination of strict quarantine. At the same time, assessments of current personal financial situation and the propensity to make big purchases remain low and have not returned to the pre-quarantine level,” Info Sapiens analysts comment.
“The Index of Propensity to Consume (х5) increased by 9.8 p. and reached the indicator of 55.1. The Index of Current Personal Financial Standing (х1) equaled 54.3, which is 2.0 points higher than the indicator in April,” the agency said on its website.
“In May, Index of Economic Expectations (ІЕE) increased by 12.9 points to the level of 90.7. The components of this index have changed as follows: the Index of Expected Changes in Personal Financial Standing (х2) increased by 22.7 points comparing to the previous month and equals 92.5, the Index of Expectations of the Country’s Economic Development over the next year (х3) increased by 19.1 points and equals 73.7, the Index of Expectations of the Country’s Economic Development over the next 5 years (х4) slightly decreased to the level of 106.0, which is 3.2 points lower than in April,” according to the document.
“In May, the indicator of Index of Expectations of Changes in Unemployment equaled 151.8, which is 17.1 p. lower than previous month. The Index of Inflationary Expectations decreased to the level of 165.4, which is 7.2 points lower than last month. Expectations of Ukrainians regarding the hryvnia’s exchange rate in the coming three months have improved: the Index of Devaluation Expectations decreased by 10.3 points and reached the level of 136.5,” the agency said.
Political expert Volodymyr Volia has shared his opinion about development prospects of the EU, the economic situation today and the consequences of the pandemic, as well as made forecasts about the revival of the Schengen Area exclusively for the Expert Kitchen program on the Expert Club YouTube channel.
According to the expert, the EU has faced several unpleasant events lately, such as the Brexit referendum and the so-called coronavirus crisis, and if the second wave of the pandemic occurs, the recession may get even worse and trigger a social crisis, poverty and unemployment.
“As the economy of Europe has been seriously affected since February, we may witness even a longer halt that will ‘kill’ the economy of the EU,” Volia said.
He added that as of the middle of April alone the EU has sustained a loss of more than EUR 3 trillion, which equals the annual federal budget of the United States. The expert also forecasted the exacerbation of the argument between the EU member states on the allocation of sales quotas, which are especially important to the countries of the Eastern and Southeast Europe, assistance and contributions to the EU budget.
In the expert’s opinion, the revival prospects of the Schengen Area look more optimistic.
“I think the movement inside the Schengen Area will be completely resumed by the end of June. As to the states, which are not a part of this area, a piecemeal approach will be applied to them. The epidemiological situation in each specific country will be taken into account and the regions of the world will be determined for the simplification of the procedure. Certainly, everything will also depend on the purpose of travel,” he said.
Volia also noted that tourism in the non-Schengen countries will be revived almost in full by the beginning of July.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by his decree ordered to create the coordination council to implement the Big Construction project led by Deputy Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
“To establish a coordination council for the implementation of the Big Construction program as an advisory body under the President of Ukraine, which main task is to monitor the situation and develop proposals for implementing effective measures to implement the Big Construction program,” Zelensky said in decree No. 246/2020 dated June 23, posted on the president’s website.
By the same decree, Zelensky decided to establish that this coordination council is authorized to receive the necessary information, documents and materials from the government and local governments, enterprises, institutions, organizations; invite to meetings and hear information from representatives of ministries, other central and local executive authorities, heads of state-owned enterprises, institutions and organizations on issues within its competence.
Zelensky by this decree approved the staff of the council.
So, Tymoshenko was appointed the head, and the council also includes Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Vladyslav Krykliy, Minister of Health Maksym Stepanov, Minister of Development of Communities and Territories Oleksiy Chernyshov, Head of the State Automobile Roads Agency Oleksandr Kubrakov, First Deputy head of the President’s Office Serhiy Trofimov, and Deputy Head of the President’s Office Yulia Sokolovska.
The coordination council also includes Director General of the Directorate for Regional Policy and Decentralization of the Government of Ukraine Olha Buhai, Director of the Department for Infrastructure and Technical Regulation of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers Natalia Kozlovska (by her consent), Advisor to the head of the Government of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak and Advisor to the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers Olena Symonenko (by consent).
This decree comes into force on the day of its publication.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has signed the law “On Amendments to the Forest Code of Ukraine regarding the National Forest Inventory” No. 643-IX, which the Verkhovna Rada adopted on June 2, 2020.
“The law provides for the creation in Ukraine of a new system of collecting reasonable data on the forest fund for the purpose of further planning, forestry, the state forest cadastre, forest monitoring and the like,” the head of state’s website reported on Tuesday.
The document introduces the concept of a national forest inventory, defines its purpose and sources of financing.
The procedure for conducting a national forest inventory is approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, it will be carried out at the expense of the state budget or other sources not prohibited by law.
According to the law, persons authorized to conduct a national forest inventory during examinations have the right to be on land plots of the forest fund of Ukraine, except as otherwise provided by law.
Information obtained from the results of the national forest inventory is entered into the state land cadastre.
The law comes into force on the day after its publication.
