Hungary’s low cost airline Wizz Air plans to resume operations of the Ukrainian subsidiary – Wizz Air Ukraine – in 2019, the airline has reported. Wizz Air Ukraine has the goal of obtaining the license of the Ukrainian operator in 2019, the airline said. After a meeting of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Wizz Air CEO József Váradi the sides have achieved the accord regarding the fact that the resumption of operations of Wizz Air Ukraine would contribute the development of the Ukrainian aviation sector, offering fares for trips effective from the point of view of the expenses and quality ratio.
Váradi said that in confirmation of the airline’s commitment to Ukraine and in response to high consumer demand, Wizz is ready to significantly increase its investment in the country in the near future. In particular, this is the resumption of the operation of its Ukrainian subsidiary – Wizz Air Ukraine. Here the airline is counting on the necessary support from representatives of the Ukrainian government, he said.
The airline plans to invest $2.5 billion to increase the Ukrainian fleet to 20 new Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 planes.
“These aircraft will be delivered to the base of the airline in Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine. As a result, the planned volume of transported passengers will be 6 million per year by 2025,” Wizz Air said.
According to the management of the airline, the resumption of operations of Wizz Air Ukraine will create about 6,000 local jobs both in direct and related industries. It will stimulate a significant development of Ukrainian tourism and services.
At the same time, the airline said that the resumption of flights of Wizz Air Ukraine will expand the network of its low-cost routes to/from Ukraine.
Wizz Air closed its Ukrainian subsidiary Wizz Air Ukraine in 2015, continuing the service of flights from the country by the Hungarian airline. The top managers of the airline explained the decision to close the Ukrainian subsidiary by the unstable situation in the east of Ukraine and the devaluation of the hryvnia. Later, the airline several times announced the possibility of resuming its subsidiary after stabilization of the situation and in the event of an increase in demand for air transportation in the country.
As reported, Irish low cost carrier Ryanair plans to open five new flights from Ukraine in 2019, and to invest $1.5 billion in Ukraine over three to five years, increasing the fleet to 15 aircraft and passenger traffic to 5 million people.
Wizz Air offers flights on 41 routes to 12 countries from three Ukrainian cities – Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv.
Singapore’s Agrocorp has opened its office in Ukraine, according to information from the public register of companies and individual entrepreneurs. The Ukrainian subsidiary was registered on October 17, 2018. The owner of the company is Agrocorp International PTE Ltd. (Singapore). The director of the newly created company is Yuriy Klympush. The charter capital is UAH 698,200.
According to information on the website, Agrocorp International was founded in 1990. Its core business is trade with crops, in particular, wheat, rice, oilseeds, sugar, cotton and nuts, and their processing.
The company has 22 representative offices in 22 countries and trades in over 30 countries.
Agrocorp started its processing business in 2012 in Canada, currently has eight plants in four countries, with a total capacity of 700,000 tonnes.
National Energy Company Ukrenergo, private joint-stock company Ukrhydroenergo, DTEK LLC, public joint-stock company Donbasenergo, public joint-stock company Centrenergo, as well as heads of the Association of Solar Power of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Wind Energy Association have urged members of the Ukrainian parliament to extend the preferential period for imports of electric cars.
“The reason for the appeal was the fact that on December 31, 2018, the temporary exemption from VAT and excise tax on imports of electric vehicles expires. At the same time, the Verkhovna Rada did not support amendments to bills Nos. 8487 and 8488 extending these benefits in 2019,” Ukrenergo, which initiated a joint letter with the appeal, said in a report.
According to the document, the entire world is moving in the direction of decarbonization, energy saving and the use of renewable energy, and electric cars are an integral part of this trend. Their presence not only solves environmental problems and reduces the amount of harmful emissions, but also contributes to the emergence of fundamentally new opportunities for the development of the energy system.
In addition, a large number of electric vehicles are a “window” of opportunities for Ukrainian energy. “The Ukrainian energy community shares the opinion that temporary exemption from VAT and excise tax on the importation of electric vehicles into the country will not only stimulate the growth of sales of electric cars, but it is a signal that we are part of the civilized world and are ready for new technological, social and environmental challenges,” the authors of the letter said.
According to their data, in recent years there has been a growing trend in the demand for cars with an electric engine all over the world. In Europe, there are already more than 1 million electric cars, and by the end of 2018, according to forecasts, this number will grow by another 350,000.
“Electric transport has become the object of increased attention of parliaments and governments of developed countries. European states are actively stimulating the growth of the electric vehicle segment through tax incentives to create new opportunities for the development of infrastructure of charging stations and the development of the power grid,” the authors of the letter said.
Ireland’s low cost airline Ryanair is considering Ukraine as the top three promising countries for development of an IT hub in 2019, Ryanair Chief Commercial Officer David O’Brien said at a press conference in the Infrastructure Ministry of Ukrainey. The airline’s engineer is visiting several cities of Ukraine, he said. The airline is mulling a possibility of opening the IT center in Ukraine in the future, and when reaching the critical mass for flights we would consider a possibility of opening the plane maintenance facilities in the country, he said.
O’Brien said that the negotiations are being held with airports of Odesa, Kherson and Kharkiv. He said that Ryanair is discussing a possibility of launching flights from regional airports of Ukraine, but the issue could be solved in several years. “We will receive 40 or 50 planes in winter 2019 and then we will talk about new cities in Ukraine,” he said.
Earlier, at a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, O’Brien said that the result of the previous meeting with the head of state was the introduction of the position of Chief Technology Officer by Ryanair together with the software lab. He expressed hope that the fourth office of this lab will be established in Ukraine. As reported, Ryanair plans to invest $1.5 billion in Ukraine by 2023, expanding the fleet to 15 planes. Ryanair offers flights from Kyiv to six cities in Poland, one destination in Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Slovakia, the U.K. and Sweden, as well as two destinations from Lviv to Germany and Poland, one to the U.K.
Pharmacy sales in Ukraine in January-October 2018 in monetary terms increased by 28% compared to the same period in 2017, to UAH 68.665 billion. Business Credit company told Interfax-Ukraine, in natural terms sales for the specified period remained unchanged, being 1.229 million packages, while the weighted average price rose by 28%, to UAH 55.60 per unit of goods.
According to the company, retail sales of medicines in January-October in monetary terms increased by 30%, to UAH 56.732 billion, in natural terms by 9%, to 833.893 million packages. The weighted average price of medicines in January-October 2018 was UAH 68 per product unit.
As reported, in January-September 2018 pharmacy sales in Ukraine in monetary terms were up by 30% compared to the same period in 2017 and amounted to UAH 61.788 billion, while sales in kind by 1%, to 1.124 billion packages.
Retail sales of drugs in January-September 2018 in monetary terms grew by 32%, to UAH 50.805 billion, in natural terms by 10%, to 754.352 million packages.
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
