Supernova Airlines, part of Nova Posta group of companies, has performed its first flight on the Riga-Zheshuv-Riga route, the postal operator’s press service said on Friday.
“The plane delivered 7 tons of international parcels of Nova Posta customers from Riga International Airport to Poland’s Rzeszów. After that, the parcels were reloaded into trucks and sent to Ukraine,” the release said.
According to it, the first flight was performed with an ATR 72 aircraft with a capacity of up to 7.5 tons, in cooperation with the Latvian airline RAF-Avia, whose cargo fleet also includes a SAAB 340 aircraft with a capacity of up to 3.7 tons.
Supernova Airlines plans to fly on this route twice a week – every Tuesday and Thursday.
As earlier reported, on January 6, Supernova Airlines received a Ukrainian operator certificate enabling to commence cargo flights. An-26-100 manufactured in 1978 was announced to be in the airlines’ fleet.
The Ukrainian airline SkyUp Airlines has received TCO (Third Country Operator) authorization from the UK aviation authorities.
As noted in the announcement of the airline, circulated on Wednesday evening, it confirms compliance with the United Kingdom’s requirements in aviation security and allows flights to this country. The authorization does not have a validity period, but it must be confirmed every 24 months.
“The need to obtain British TCO authorization is related to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. If previously the European regulator’s [EASA] authorization was sufficient to carry out flights, then from the beginning of 2023 new documents from the aviation authorities of Great Britain are required,” the airline said.
To get authorization, the airline has provided detailed information on operations, fleet, flight history, internal manuals and data on operational procedures, flight safety management system, etc. The British side has also received confirmation from the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine regarding the authenticity of all the documents provided.
When all procedures were completed, SkyUp received a document certifying compliance with the requirements of the UK Part-TCO Regulations.
From now on, SkyUp can fly to the UK without additional permits.
Earlier this year SkyUp also received the TCO of Switzerland, after which the airline performed a number of flights to this country under the terms of a wet-lease.
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.
The Ukrainian airline Air Ocean will stop operating flights until March 15, the airline’s press service has reported.
“Dear passengers, due to the delay in the delivery of aircraft and the need for scheduled maintenance of currently operated aircraft, the airline is forced to postpone flights with resumption starting from March 15, 2022,” the airline said in the report.
The press service also said that if the tickets were bought on the airline’s website, the funds will be automatically credited in full to the card from which the payment was made. If the ticket was purchased from an air travel agent, the passenger should contact the place of purchase for a refund of the ticket price. “Or we offer you to retain the right to fly with an open departure date, and when buying the next ticket, we provide a discount of 50% of the ticket price,” the airline said.
The new Ukrainian airline Air Ocean Airlines, on Saturday, October 30, on An-148 aircraft operated its first flight on the route Kyiv-Mykolaiv, according to the Facebook page of the state-owned enterprise Antonov.
Antonov notes that Air Ocean Airlines was founded in September 2020, its main activity is regular and charter flights in Ukraine and abroad on An-148 and An-158 aircraft.
“We are planning to start flights with duration of 2-2.5 hours, which, according to our estimates, will be the most economically profitable,” Viacheslav Heriha, executive director of the airline, is quoted as saying.
Today, the Air Ocean Airlines fleet consists of two An-148 aircraft. According to the state-owned enterprise, the supply of one more aircraft is planned by the end of this year. During the first and second quarters of 2022, three more aircraft will be supplied. In total, the company plans to operate up to ten aircraft of this type. They are owned by Cyprus Aircraft Leasing 2 (CAL) LTD and transferred to the airline in accordance with lease agreements.
Air Ocean Airlines has already launched its website but it is currently undergoing technical work.
The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air will launch flights on the Kyiv-Stockholm Skavsta (Sweden) route from December 16, 2021.
The press service of the airline said on Friday that the flights will be operated twice a week: on Thursdays and Sundays.
According to Wizz Air Internal Communications Manager Paulina Gosk, the launch of this flight will strengthen cultural and economic ties between Ukraine and Sweden.
There are currently no direct flights between cities.
