Ukraine is not planning to halt air traffic and is working to prevent risks for airline, the Ukrainian authorities said.
Reports about Ukraine closing its airspace are not true, the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure said in a statement on Sunday. The closure of airspace is Ukraine’s sovereign right; no such decision has been made, the ministry said.
“Today [on February 13], there was a working meeting in the Ministry of Infrastructure. Senior officials of the Office of the President of Ukraine, the State Aviation Service of Ukraine, state-owned enterprise UkSATSE, Boryspil International Airport and Ukrainian airlines attended the meeting dedicated to the situation on the air transport services market. A solution preventing any further exacerbation of the situation was elaborated at the meeting,” the ministry said.
A majority of airlines are continuing operations without any restrictions, it said.
“Some carriers face difficulties associated with fluctuations on insurance markets. The state, for its part, is ready to support air carriers and is planning to provide additional financial guarantees to support the aviation market,” it said.
Ukraine is currently in consultations with international partners, and the Ukrainian government is preparing relevant decisions, the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure said.
“The markets for insurance services, as well as capital markets, are vulnerable to the information space. We expect the situation to stabilize soon. In order to do that, the government, the President’s Office and our international partners are designing general decisions. If necessary, the state will ensure repatriation of all Ukrainian citizens from abroad,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
Later, Deputy Head of the Office of the President Kyrylo Tymoshenko confirmed that the sky over Ukraine remains open, and the authorities have not taken any decisions to close the airspace.
EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) also made no recommendations to restrict flights in Ukrainian airspace, he said on Facebook.
“Most airlines continue to operate without restrictions. What is happening? Some airlines are experiencing difficulties due to insurance markets. So that passengers do not experience the inconvenience associated with this, today, together with the Minister of Infrastructure, we met with the leadership of the State Aviation Service, UkSATSE, Boryspil airport and Ukrainian airlines,” the deputy head of the President’s Office wrote.
According to Tymoshenko, Ukraine is ready to support air carriers and the necessary government decisions will be initiated in the near future.
Earlier a source in the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure said that Ukraine had no plans to halt air traffic in its airspace at the level of the state, but airlines themselves could decide to suspend flights.
Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada member (European Solidarity) Oleksiy Honcharenko said earlier, citing his own sources, that air traffic could be halted in Ukraine on Monday afternoon following an insurance company’s decision to stop insuring civil aircraft.
Some 29,048 flights were performed in the airspace of Ukraine in August 2021, which is 76% of the August volume of pre-crisis 2019 flights, the press service of the Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise (UkSATSE) reported.
According to it, Ukrainian airlines performed 10,505 flights in August 2021 (10.2% less compared to August 2019), foreign airlines carried out 18,543 flights (30.1% less).
In total, over the past month, 3,516 domestic flights (17.7% more than in the corresponding period of 2019) and 14,595 international flights (12.3% less), as well as 10,937 transit flights (41.2% less) were operated.
“The dynamics of the number of flights in the airspace of Ukraine in 2021: July – 26,952 flights, June – 21,113 flights, May – 16,986 flights, April – 13,661 flights, March – 12,160 flights, February – 8,758 flights, January – 9,842 flights,” UkSATSE reports.
The department explained that the increase in the number of flights in the Ukrainian sky is associated, in particular, with the spread of vaccination in the country and the world, the opening of the borders of foreign countries, the restoration of the confidence of air passengers in travel and the traditional growth in demand for air travel during the tourist season.
“It is important to note the positive dynamics of the intensity of flights in the international airspace, which is under the responsibility of Ukraine, namely in the western part of the Simferopol flight information region, the so-called green zone. In August, 80% more flights were performed on these routes with special flight planning procedures compared to July of this year, and three times more than in June,” head of UkSATSE Andriy Yarmak said.
According to him, this is facilitated by the new air navigation rate for air navigation services, established by the Ministry of Infrastructure from June 1, 2021, as well as proactive work with domestic and international airlines.
In June 2021, some 21,113 flights were performed in the airspace of Ukraine, which is 59.6% of the June volume of flights in the pre-crisis 2019, the press service of the State Air Traffic Service Enterprise (UkSATSE) said on Wednesday.
According to UkSATSE, the absolute value of the number of flights in May of this year increased, the dynamics can also be called positive – the indicators for May were less: 56.6% of the number of flights in the same period of 2019.
According to UkSATSE, the increase in the intensity of flights is due to the beginning of the tourist season, the gradual opening of the borders of foreign countries, the restoration of a number of international flights to Europe suspended due to the pandemic, and the entry of new air carriers into the Ukrainian aviation market.
“An important impetus for the revitalization of transit in the Ukrainian sky was also the revision of the rates for air navigation services over the Black Sea. New air navigation rates began to operate on June 1 of this year, at which the cost of a 100 km flight is EUR 25 instead of EUR 51.1. First of all, Ukrainian airlines revised their plans of flights in the southern and southeastern directions with Ukraine and resumed flights in the Simferopol flight information region,” the press service quoted head of UkSATSE Andriy Yarmak as saying.
He also said that UkSATSE is actively working to attract foreign carriers to operate flights in this part of the Ukrainian airspace.
Ukrainian airlines performed 8,953 flights in June 2021 (20% less compared to June 2019), foreign airlines performed 12,160 flights (49.8% less).
Ukraine stops air traffic with Belarus from May 26, the relevant decision was made at a government meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
“From 00:00 on May 26, Ukraine will stop air traffic with Belarus,” Shmyhal wrote in the Telegram channel.
The prime minister said the government instructed the Infrastructure Ministry, the the State Air Traffic Services Enterprise (UkSATSE) to take the necessary measures for this.
In addition, Ukrainian airlines and aircraft will be prohibited from flying in the airspace of the Republic of Belarus.
The State Border Guard Service also received an order to stop the registration of passengers traveling from Belarus or to Belarus at the customs points of airports.
“The situation with the forced landing of Ryanair’s aircraft in Minsk is a violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The decision of our government is aimed at ensuring the safety of flights and passengers,” Shmyhal said.
The State Air Traffic Service Enterprise (UkSATSE) ended 2020 with net loss of UAH 1.489 billion, which is 32.5% more than in 2019 (UAH 1.123 billion).
According to the company’s financial statements published on its website, in 2020 the gross loss amounted to UAH 664.4 million versus UAH 156.4 million in gross profit in 2019.
Net income from the sale of services over the past year decreased 56.5%, to UAH 1.5 billion.
UkSATSE was founded in 1992. It provides a full range of air navigation services: air traffic services, air traffic flow management, airspace organization and management, radio communications, navigation and surveillance, provision of meteorological and aeronautical information for all types of flights.
Abolishing the payment of value added tax (VAT) for domestic air transportation will create positive conditions for the development of domestic airlines and revitalize regional air traffic, Deputy Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko has said.
“We have goals to abolish VAT on domestic air transportation. This is an important topic. After all, it will help the development of Ukrainian airlines – not only state ones, but also private ones,” he said during the “Ukraine 30. Infrastructure” forum.
According to the official, this year the creation of a state air carrier can be completed and Ukraine will receive an understandable state national air carrier that will be able to solve not only tourism issues, but also state issues.
At the same time, Tymoshenko recalled that in the spring of 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary to involve private airlines in the evacuation of Ukrainian citizens from other countries.
“All this will be decided by a large national air carrier, which, I hope, will become known to the whole world,” he said.
