SkyUp Airlines (Kiev) carried 2.3 times fewer passengers in 2022 than in 2021 – 1.08 million, due to the full-scale aggression of Russia and against Ukraine and the closure of the Ukrainian sky since February 24 last year, according to a message on the official website SkyUp.
According to it, after the start of the war, the company worked on a “wet lease” with 10 airlines, including Wizz Air, SmartWings, Freebird Airlines, Tailwind Airlines, Corendon Airlines, and in just one year it performed 7,713 flights to 204 airports worldwide on 627 routes.
It is specified that SkyUp aircrafts also performed charter flights for tour operators from Moldova and Baltic countries, in particular for affiliated tour operator Join UP!, as well as special flights for Hasidic pilgrims from Tel Aviv to Chisinau.
“Despite the temporary lack of ability to operate flights from/to Ukraine, significant changes in competitive conditions and operating conditions in new markets, we continue our operations and have not stopped since the beginning of the full-scale invasion,” the statement said.
SkyUp underlined that it managed to keep the fleet, as due to the tight flight schedule on February 24, 10 of 11 aircraft were abroad at the time of closure of the Ukrainian sky, and on August 16 the company added a new mid-range Boeing 737-800 with 189 passenger seats to the fleet, manufactured in 2011.
According to the release, SkyUp did not lay off any employees last year, and fewer than 10 percent of employees decided to leave the company for their own reasons, with another 53 employees serving in the Navy. 80% of the 1,200 employees remaining on SkyUp’s payroll were engaged at varying levels of workload, with “the majority of the team remaining in Ukraine,” the release said.
SkyUp also pointed out that it opened a line maintenance station for its own fleet in Antalya, Turkey, in the middle of last year. Similar line station operates in Tallinn. The company notes that it planned to develop the direction of maintenance of its own fleet and in Ukraine, registering in March 2021 organization Sky-Stream: at the time of the Russian invasion was equipped and prepared maintenance station at Boryspil airport. “However, the full-scale war forced to look for opportunities to work abroad,” SkyUp stated.
The company said that it has received certificates of compliance with TCO safety standards of Great Britain and Switzerland, which gives the right to operate flights to these countries and also ensure compliance with national regulations of the UAE CAA necessary to perform occasional passenger flights to these countries.
The company plans for 2023 is to strengthen its position in new markets and the development of wet leasing, as well as the implementation of charter flights for Ukrainian and foreign tour operators, the release said.
Skyap Airlines LLC was registered in Kiev in June 2016, and carried out its first flight in 2018. The founder is ACS-Ukraine LLC of Tatiana and Yuri Alba, who also own the tour operator JoinUp!
As reported, SkyUp airline in 2020 carried 1.25 million passengers (while performing 8.7 thousand flights), and in 2021 increased this figure to 2.5 million.
