Ireland’s Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget airline, is considering resuming a small number of flights to Ukraine by the end of this year, provided Ukraine successfully negotiates a partial opening of airspace, the airline’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said.
“We’re considering two plans: one when the war is over and everything opens up in one or two days. And the second, the most likely one, under which we may schedule a small number of flights as early as the end of this year,” O’Leary told Interfax-Ukraine.
He cited the experience of Israel, where aviation continues to operate. “Planes land daily in Tel Aviv, which is only 10 minutes away from the West Bank, from where missiles are launched. It was definite that it was safe to fly and they (the local government – IF-U) can protect the plane. So I see no reason why we can’t return flights (to Ukraine – IF-U),” O’Leary said.
According to his information, the Ministry of Air Transport is currently working on resuming some flights to Ukraine later this year.
“I think we should be optimistic. Now the ministry (Ministry of Recovery – IF-U) is working on resuming some flights to Kiev and Lviv at the end of this year. And if they can prove that it is safe, we will perform these flights,” said the head of Ryanair.
At the same time, he emphasized that if Ukraine fails to convince EASA – European Aviation Safety Agency and insurance companies that it is safe to perform a limited number of flights to Kiev and Lviv, the company will not be able to resume flights.
As reported, Ryanair this week announced a commitment to resume flights to/from Ukraine at low fares within 8 weeks of the opening of Ukrainian airspace. The company plans to deploy up to 30 new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in Kiev, Lviv and Odessa at a cost of over $3 billion. It was indicated that the airline is ready to operate up to 600 flights per week. In addition, Ryanair plans to open daily flights between Kiev, Lviv and Odessa as soon as the airports are ready for it.
It was noted that the airline plans to reach more than 5 million passenger seats per year in the first 12 months after the launch and intends to increase this number to 10 million passengers within five years.
