The Ukrainian market of passenger and cargo transportation was serviced by 32 Ukrainian airlines in 2017. The airlines serviced 93,000 commercial flights, which is 17% more than in 2016.
According to the State Aviation Service of Ukraine, the number of passengers carried by Ukrainian airlines rose by 27.5%, to 10.555 million people.
“The Ukrainian market of passenger air transportation for the second consecutive year showed high growth rates, while in the previous year, 2016, the market recovered after the recession that took place in 2014-2015. If in 2016 the volume of passenger transportation by domestic airlines exceeded the pre-crisis indicator of 2013 by 2.1%, then for 2017 – already by 30.1%,” the State Aviation Service said.
During the past year, 18 domestic airlines carried passengers. According to statistics for 2017, 93% of the total volume of passenger traffic was carried out by five leading air carriers. In addition to the airline Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), the leaders of the market were also Windrose, Azur Air Ukraine, Atlasjet Ukraine and Bravo.
Windrose has achieved growth of passenger traffic by 2.5 times as compared to the previous year, Atlasjet Ukraine by 73.8%, Bravo by 49.9%, Azur Air Ukraine – by 17.2% and UIA – by 16.5%.
“The positive trend that has been created in the last two years is primarily thanks to the successful development of the international air transportation sector. Throughout 2017 regular flights between Ukraine and other countries were carried out by 10 domestic airlines to 43 countries and 29 foreign airlines to 27. Among the new foreign airlines are Qatar Airways from Qatar, Ernest SpA from Italy and Kish Air from Iran,” the State Aviation Service said.
In 2017, in accordance with the approved timetable, exploitation of 20 international airlines was started on a regular basis, of which 10 international airlines by domestic airlines. Ukrainian airlines on international scheduled flights carried 5.837 million passengers, foreign airlines – 4.976 million (an increase of 18.1% and 29.3% respectively).
“The largest growth in the number of passengers carried by domestic airlines was observed in the following segment of the air transportation market – international flights on an irregular basis (49.2%): in the reporting year, 15 Ukrainian airlines transported 3.777 million passengers. Four airlines, in particular, Windrose, UIA, Azur Air Ukraine and Bravo carried out 85% of passengers,” the authority said.
During the year, the activation of regular traffic within Ukraine continued. Regular domestic passenger transportation between nine cities of Ukraine was serviced by five domestic airlines: 930,900 passengers were transported, which is 17.6% more than in 2016.
Some 23 Ukrainian airlines carried cargo and mail mainly servicing charter flights in other states under humanitarian and peacemaking UN programs and under contracts with other customers.
A total of 20 Ukrainian airports and airfields serviced commercial flights of Ukrainian and foreign airlines in 2017. The airports serviced 159,900 aircraft, which was 20% more than in 2016.
The Boryspil airport saw a 22.1% rise in the number of serviced passengers in 2017.
The Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise (UkSATSE) serviced 254,000 flights, which is 18.5% more than in 2016. The number of flights performed by Ukrainian airlines’ aircraft and helicopters grew by 18.8% and by foreign airlines – by 18.4%.
