Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), due to the extension by the European Union of the ban on free crossing of the Schengen border for Ukrainian citizens, is making new adjustments to its August flight schedule.
The press service of UIA reported on Tuesday that in particular, until the end of August, flights to the following destinations are completely canceled: Larnaca (LCA), Frankfurt (FRA), Baku (GYD), Prague (PRG), Vienna (VIE), Chisinau (KIV), Berlin (TXL), Athens (ATH), Rome (FCO), and Barcelona (BCN).
Domestic flights in August, the airline will operate to the following destinations: Odesa (ODS), Kherson (KHE), and Lviv (LWO).
Flights to Kherson will be operated every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and back – every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Flights from Kyiv to Odesa will be operated daily, and the Kyiv-Lviv-Kyiv flight will be performed in the Lviv direction on August 21 and August 28 with a return on August 24 and August 30.
UIA plans to operate international flights to the following destinations: Kyiv – Amsterdam (AMS) – Kyiv, Kyiv – London (LGW) – Kyiv, Kyiv – Paris (CDG) – Kyiv, Kyiv – Toronto (YYZ) – Kyiv, Kyiv – Nice (NCE) – Kyiv, Kyiv – Dubai (DXB) – Kyiv, Kyiv – Istanbul (IST) – Kyiv, Odesa – Istanbul (IST) – Odesa, Kyiv – Tel Aviv (TLV) – Kyiv, Odesa – Tel Aviv (TLV) – Odesa, Kyiv – Milan (MXP) – Kyiv, Kyiv – Naples (NAP) – Kyiv, Kyiv – Munich (MUC) – Kyiv, Kyiv – Yerevan (EVN) – Kyiv, Kyiv – Madrid (MAD) – Kyiv, and Kyiv – Cairo (CAI) – Kyiv.
Frequency changes will take place on the following routes: Kyiv – London (LGW) – Kyiv (due to unstable demand on the route, there are flights to London on August 9, August 28, August 30 and August 31); Kyiv – Nice (NCE) – Kyiv (return flights every Saturday); Kyiv – Toronto (YYZ) – Kyiv (flights are planned on August 1, August 15 and August 29 with the return to Kyiv on August 2, August 16 and August 30, respectively); Kyiv – Milan (MXP) – Kyiv (weekly return flights); Kyiv – Naples (NAP) – Kyiv (return flights every Saturday); Kyiv – Dubai (DXB) – Kyiv (on Fridays and Saturdays until August 28, with an additional frequency on August 5 and will operate on Thursdays between August 13 – August 27); Kyiv – Istanbul (IST) – Kyiv (every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, as well as on August 5 and additionally on Fridays from August 7 to 28); Kyiv – Tel Aviv (TLV) – Kyiv (every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, as well as August 31); Kyiv – Madrid (MAD) – Kyiv (on Fridays from August 7 to August 28, as well as August 31).
All other routes remain unchanged, UIA said.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) is expanding the list of destinations for July and August 2020 due to the easing by some countries of the border crossing regime for Ukrainian tourists.According to the press service of the company, domestic flights will be operated in three directions – Kherson, Odesa and Lviv.
So, in the period from July 1 to July 30, UIA will serve domestic flights to Odesa, Lviv and Kherson, flying every Friday to the regions and returning to Kyiv every Sunday. However, in the first half of August, it is planned to change the schedule for the direction Kyiv-Odesa: flights will be operated on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday (Odesa-Kyiv on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). From August 16 to August 31, a flight to Odesa on Thursdays may also be added.
International flights, as UIA notes, will be operated in the directions of the airline’s regular flight program: Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Dubai, Tbilisi, Batumi, Larnaca, Athens, London, Nice, Rome, Naples, Baku, Berlin, Milan, Munich, Prague, Yerevan, Madrid, Vienna, Barcelona, Chisinau, and there will also be periodic flights to Toronto.
Zaporizhia and Lviv international airports, the Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise (UkSATSE), Azur Air Ukraine and SkyUp Airlines have sent a joint letter to the president, the prime minister and the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine with a request for state support for the aviation industry amid pandemic.
“Already today, judging by the losses incurred by the entire aviation market, it is possible to predict not only a complicated recovery process, but also the non-return of many participants to work in principle. The industry itself may be in danger of extinction,” the report says.
The companies note a serious lack of resources for fulfilling financial obligations to pay wages, service loans, make lease payments, under agreements with foreign partners, etc.
The airlines have compiled a list of measures adapted to Ukrainian realities that, in their opinion, must be taken to preserve the aviation industry. In particular, they ask to provide the industry with irrevocable financial assistance for the payment of wage arrears and tax holidays for taxes paid in connection with its payment. In addition, they ask for targeted, non-repayable assistance to pay off debts that have formed since the quarantine began in the country for services provided to aviation businesses by state enterprises and organizations.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) resumes regular flights between Kyiv and Odesa on June 5.According to the company’s press service, flights from Kyiv will be carried out on June 5 and 6, and in the opposite direction on June 8 and June 9.
According to the data in the UIA reservation system, the cost of one ticket with baggage is from UAH 1,500.
The airline asks passengers to adhere to the quarantine rules, to carry personal protective equipment, masks, and also to remember the need to maintain a social distance at the airport.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to launch domestic flights from June 5, and international flights from June 15.
Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air and German Lufthansa plan to resume flights from Ukraine in late May or early June.
The relevant information is available in the booking systems of the airlines.
In particular, Wizz Air has opened booking tickets for flights from Kyiv, Zaporizhia, Lviv, Odesa and Kharkiv since May 23. Most flights will start to operate in June.
Lufthansa has opened booking flights from Kyiv to Berlin since June.
Earlier, the resumption of direct flights from Ukraine was announced by Czech national airline Czech Airlines, namely, from Prague to Kyiv and Odesa at the end of May 2020.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plans to start the usual mode of dialog with passengers in one month, UIA President Yevhen Dykhne has said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“I won’t tell you the exact number how many passenger requests have been handled right now. Since the termination of flights, we have about 27,000 requests pending response. And almost the same number arrived at UIA client communication platforms in the early days of this period,” he said.
According to Dykhne, the additional difficulty with handling passenger requests is that UIA is forced to quit the usual work through call centers under quarantine conditions.
“Most often, call centers are built on open space technology and work in them does not comply with quarantine conditions. Therefore, our own call center and the external call centers that serviced us were closed. We switched to e-mailing and messaging with passengers,” the president of UIA said.
A total of up to 150 people in the airline is involved in e-mailing and messaging with passengers. In one working day, this number ranges from 60 to 110, as such employees work remotely, while in the call center up to 600 employees of the airline worked simultaneously at the peak hours.
“Today, we handle up to 2,000 requests a day, but it’s still 90% less than it is being received. I think that we will need another month of work in order to get into the usual dialogue with passengers, not all-hands work, because mailing and messaging, of course, is a longer process than voice calls,” he said.
