SkyUp Airlines, Azur Air Ukraine, Windrose and Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) received more than UAH 60.7 million in compensation from the state for returning citizens to their homeland in the spring of 2020, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine reported on your Facebook page on Friday.
“Ukrainian air carriers were reimbursed more than UAH 60.7 million for the implementation of irregular international flights in the spring of 2020. The peculiarity of these flights was that they departed from Ukraine without passengers – that is, without commercial loading. The main task then was to return Ukrainian citizens home to conditions when countries around the world introduced a tough lockdown. I am very grateful to the Ukrainian airlines for the fact that they were able to respond to global challenges as quickly as possible,” Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
According to him, in such critical situations, the state does not have the necessary flexibility to make quick decisions to respond to such threats.
“This is one of the clearest examples of why Ukraine needs the state air carrier Ukraine National Airlines in the modern world,” he added.