According to Experts.news, Singapore Airlines was named the world’s best airline at the 2026 World Airline Awards, the results of which were announced by the international ranking organization Skytrax on September 18 in London.
Qatar Airways, which topped the global ranking in 2025, took second place, while Cathay Pacific Airways came in third. The top five also included Japan’s ANA All Nippon Airways and Turkish Airlines.
The top 10 best airlines in the world in 2026 were:
Singapore Airlines
Qatar Airways
Cathay Pacific Airways
ANA All Nippon Airways
Turkish Airlines
Emirates
Air France
Hainan Airlines
Japan Airlines
Korean Air
Thus, half of the top ten were airlines from East and Southeast Asia. Among European carriers, Turkish Airlines and Air France made the top 10, while Emirates and Qatar Airways represented the Middle East.
Singapore Airlines won the top title of “World’s Best Airline” for the sixth time in the award’s history. In 2026, the carrier was also recognized as the world’s best for economy class and in-flight meals in economy class.
Qatar Airways, which took second place, received the award for Best Business Class and was also named the Best Airline in the Middle East. Additionally, in 2026, Skytrax presented the award for Best In-Flight Wi-Fi for the first time, which was also won by Qatar Airways.
The World Airline Awards have been organized by Skytrax since 1999 and are based on a passenger survey. The survey for the 2026 rankings took place from September 2025 through August 2026. Passengers from over 100 countries participated, and the final results included more than 300 airlines.
Respondents evaluated service at the airport and on board, seat comfort, cabin cleanliness, in-flight meals, staff performance, check-in, boarding, in-flight entertainment, Wi-Fi, and value for money.
Source: Skytrax World Airline Awards.
The Ukrainian Corporation for Viticulture and Winemaking “Ukrvinprom” and the state-owned “Ukrgasbank” have signed a cooperation agreement aimed at supporting the development of the Ukrainian wine industry, implementing joint projects, developing wine tourism, and introducing modern financial instruments for companies in the industry, the corporation reported.
As Ukrvinprom CEO Volodymyr Kucherenko stated in a comment to Interfax-Ukraine, the goal of the agreement is to create opportunities for further cooperation and provide winemakers with access to the bank’s financial instruments.
The agreement does not specify a fixed amount of funding. Industry enterprises will have access to the bank’s financial instruments as needed and within the framework of specific projects, in accordance with the terms of the bank’s programs.
“It is important to us that this particular agreement opens up an additional tool to support our winemakers and industry enterprises. You will see concrete results in certain areas of this cooperation, I think, in the very near future—even before the end of this year,” he said.
According to Kucherenko, the collaboration will also encompass the development of wine tourism and the preservation of Ukraine’s winemaking cultural heritage.
“We see the need to revive, preserve, study, and restore the so-called Mazepa Wine Cellar. We also see other areas that we are currently exploring. We hope that with the help of ‘Ukrgasbank’ and other patrons, we will be able to revive our Ukrainian winemaking heritage. And not only revive and preserve it, but also build upon the achievements of our winemakers,” Kucherenko noted.
He added that “Ukrvinprom” is open to cooperation with all market participants. In the first phase, the corporation plans to help its members gain access to special programs developed jointly with the bank, as well as to inform market participants about available opportunities.
The agreement was signed on September 18 during the 5th International Forum “Ukrainian Wine—Part of the World’s Cultural Heritage: From Trypillia to the Present Day” in Kyiv. One of the forum’s topics was financing opportunities for investments in winemaking and wine tourism.
The Book.ua bookstore chain has opened a new location in Kyiv at 5 Spaska Street; the bookstore in Podil is currently operating in test mode, the company’s press office reported.
“We’re getting to know the new location, fine-tuning all our processes, and preparing for the official opening. But we don’t want to wait for the ‘perfect moment.’ The books are already on the shelves, the coffee is brewing, the team is on site—and we really want to finally see you here,” the chain noted on Facebook.
As previously reported, a Russian attack on August 28 destroyed the warehouse shared by Readeat, Book.ua, and a number of publishers in Sviatopetrivskyi, from which books were shipped throughout Ukraine.
Book.ua has been operating since 2023 and runs an online bookstore as well as bookstore-cafés: seven in Kyiv and one in Khmelnytskyi.
The top three companies in Ukraine by revenue from telecommunications services for the first half of 2026 were, by a wide margin, mobile network operators: Kyivstar PJSC – 24.87 billion UAH, VF Ukraine PJSC (Vodafone-Ukraine brand) – 13.75 billion UAH, and lifecell LLC (lifecell brand) of the DVL Group – 8.88 billion UAH.
According to data from the National Commission for the Regulation of Electronic Communications and Postal Services (NCREC) published on its website, compared to the same period in 2025, revenue growth for Kyivstar was 17.3%, for Vodafone-Ukraine 10.2%, and for lifecell 17.1%.
As previously reported, in 2025, the growth rates for these companies were 20.3%, 13.1%, and 19.1%, respectively.
The top five revenue leaders in the first half of 2026 also included the fixed-line operator PJSC “Ukrtelecom,” which saw its revenue decline by 5.1% compared to the same period in 2025, down to 2.19 billion UAH.
Kyivstar’s “sister” company, LLC “Ukraine Tower Company” (UTC), rounded out the top five in terms of revenue for the first half of this year, increasing its revenue by 21.5% to 1.73 billion UAH.
According to the report, leading the second five in terms of revenue from telecommunications services is the fixed-line operator PJSC “Datagroup” from the DVL Group, which increased its revenue by 35% compared to the same period last year—to 1.21 billion UAH.
Next is the fixed-line operator PrJSC “Farlep-Invest,” controlled by “VF Ukraine,” which increased its revenue by a factor of 1.5 to 0.57 billion UAH and rose from 9th place in 2025 to 7th place this year.
The Radio Broadcasting, Radio Communications, and Television Concern ranks eighth with 0.52 billion UAH, which is 14% more than in the first half of last year, when it ranked 7th.
Ukrainian Network Solutions LLC, the holding company for Vodafone Ukraine, increased its revenue 1.7-fold in the first half of 2026—to 0.49 billion UAH, while “Home-Net” Scientific and Industrial Company LLC ranks 10th, having managed to increase its revenue by 23.8% to 0.44 billion UAH.
According to the regulator’s data, the top three mobile operators also led in terms of capital investments in the telecommunications sector in the first half of 2026: “Kyivstar” reduced its investments by 38% compared to 2025—to 3.24 billion UAH, “Vodafone Ukraine” maintained its level at 3.16 billion UAH, while lifecell increased its investments by 43.9% to 2.62 billion UAH.
“Farlep-Invest” also increased its investments in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period last year—by 20.7%, to 0.61 billion UAH—moving up to 4th place from 5th previously, while YTK fell from 4th to 5th place due to a 23.9% decline in investments—to 0.57 billion UAH.
A 49.8% decrease in investment volumes was also recorded by “Ukrainian Network Solutions”—to 0.20 billion UAH.
“Ukrtelecom” reduced its investments in the first half of 2026 by only 1.5%—to 0.19 billion UAH—while “Datagroup” cut its investments by 22.4%, to 0.09 billion UAH.
In contrast, Home-Net increased this figure 3.9-fold in the first half of 2026—to 0.07 billion UAH—and rose from 17th place last year to 9th this year.
Rounding out the top five in terms of investment volume is Lanet Telecom LLC, which invested 0.04 billion UAH in the telecommunications sector in the first half of 2026, a decrease of approximately 2.5 million UAH compared to the first half of last year.
As previously reported, in the first quarter of 2026, the leaders in terms of revenue were PJSC “Kyivstar” – 12.08 billion UAH, PJSC “Vodafone Ukraine” (TM “Vodafone-Ukraine”) – 6.69 billion UAH, and LLC “lifecell” (TM lifecell) from the DVL Group – 4.18 billion UAH.
The National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine (NSSMC) sees opportunities for the revival of the municipal bond market in Ukraine, is actively working toward this goal, and supports a bill on preferential taxation of individual income from these instruments, said Commission Chairman Oleksiy Semenyuk.
“I believe this is possible (the revival of the municipal bond market). Moreover, this process is already underway on a fairly large scale,” he said during a discussion on the prospects of the stock market in Ukraine, organized by the Kyiv International Economic Forum last week.
Semenyuk clarified that a meeting is tentatively scheduled for October 2 with representatives of cities with populations of 100,000 or more—which will also include representatives from the Ministry of Finance—to discuss the main issues hindering the progress of this process.
“The main problems there are clear and have been identified… I want to note that I believe in municipal bonds,” emphasized the Commission chairman.
According to him, cities have development budgets, and they currently have significant needs for a rapid transition to energy independence, so bonds are an attractive instrument for them.
Semenyuk believes that municipal bonds could also be of interest to investment funds and local revenue-generating enterprises.
At the same time, Serhiy Fursa, deputy director of securities trading at the investment firm Dragon Capital, expressed doubt that municipal bonds would attract investors under current conditions, when the Ministry of Finance is placing domestic government bonds on the market, the income from which is tax-exempt.
“This would be a good instrument, but, again, we have domestic government bonds and their yields, as well as the need to provide a risk premium. By the way, I don’t quite understand—and this is a question for analysts—how to assess the solvency of cities in Ukraine. At the moment, I don’t really see much demand for this,” the expert noted.
According to him, the main buyers right now are individuals who are focused on returns and tax benefits.
The head of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) reported that two bills on tax incentives are currently being considered for passage through the Verkhovna Rada. He clarified that the first concerns investment accounts exempt from personal income tax provided the investment term is at least three years, while the second concerns the “5+5” scheme: a 5% personal income tax rate and a 5% military levy instead of the current 18% + 5%. Semenyuk added that discussions regarding the latter bill are ongoing with the Ministry of Finance.
bond, city, INVESTMENT, NSSMC, TAX
Tens of thousands of workers in Germany’s auto industry are taking part in protests, demanding that the government and company executives preserve their jobs, The Guardian reported on Monday.
Workers at Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and a number of other automakers are participating in the protests.
Volkswagen previously announced plans to cut 100,000 jobs over the next three years. BMW and Mercedes are also reducing their workforces.
The protesters are calling on the government to support the industry, particularly through subsidies.
The Guardian notes that the crisis in the German auto industry is linked, in part, to the growth of China’s electric vehicle industry, whose vehicles are cheaper and often equipped with more advanced features compared to their German counterparts.
