Boryspil International Airport in January-September 2020 reduced passenger traffic to 4.058 million passengers, which is 65% less than in the same period in 2019.
According to the airport’s website, in September 2020 Boryspil airport served 554,485 passengers, which is 66% less than in the same period in 2019.
“The high season 2020 for the aviation industry is over. Due to the restrictions adopted by the Ukrainian government in August, not only did the September Hasidic program not take place, but at the same time the airport saw a 30% shortage of passenger traffic. The hub model has become unrealistic – we will be missing about 3 million transfer passengers The aviation industry has cut costs as much as possible to cope with the difficult times. Quarantine restrictions continue to be a stop factor for passengers. Analyzing the statistics for January-September 2020, we can more accurately predict the expected passenger traffic with which we will end the year. Passenger traffic at Boryspil airport in 2020 will fall to the level of 2009, which will lead to a multiple decrease in the income of Boryspil airport compared to 2019,” the press service of the airport said citing director general Pavlo Riabikin.
According to the published data, in the first nine months of 2019, the airport served 2.6 million transfer passengers, which is 22.4% of the total passenger traffic, and in the same period of 2020, some 418,000 passengers were served, which is 10.3% of the total passenger traffic.
A new airport will be constructed in Zakarpattia in two or three years, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during his working trip to Zakarpattia region.
“We decided that the today’s issue is to make the airport [Uzhgorod] operate, we plan to restore this airport in any case, so that it is good, modern, viable. As for the geographical location of this airport, we all understand that it is impossible to construct a large aviation hub at this place and to extend the runway. Therefore, I know that we will construct a fundamental international modern airport in Zakarpattia. Where will it be? We have three options,” Zelensky said at a briefing in Zakarpattia region on Friday.
The president said that the money for the construction of the new airport in Zakarpattia is budgeted for 2021.
“We are already putting money into the 2021 budget, so that we have the initial work on the construction of this airport done. I think that we will construct the new airport in about two or three years. Now the most important thing is that people will have the opportunity connect not only within Ukraine, but also travel around the world,” Zelensky said.
Ukraine and the Slovak Republic have signed an intergovernmental agreement on the provision of aviation operational services by their Ukrainian supplier in a certain part of the Slovak airspace relative to Uzhgorod airport.
According to Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy, the document was signed by him and Minister of Transport and Construction of Slovakia Andrej Dolezal.
“The full operation of Uzhgorod airport will be restored. Just now, together with my Slovak colleague, Minister of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic Andrej Dolezal, we signed an appropriate bilateral intergovernmental agreement. Finally, after so many months of inactivity, we will connect Zakarpattia by air service with other regions and with abroad,” he wrote on his Telegram channel on Thursday.
According to the press service of the Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine with reference to the head of the department, the signing of this agreement will also help strengthen mutual bilateral relations in the civil aviation sector between the countries and in terms of expanding the possibilities of international air transportation.
However, Krykliy expressed hope for the early completion of the coordination of technical issues related to the implementation of the agreement and the signing by the parties of the implementation protocols within a month.
The ministry said that the agreement was initialed by both countries during negotiations in Kyiv on December 18, 2019. The document takes into account the security and defense aspects arising from the membership of Slovakia in NATO, as well as from the fact that the Ukrainian-Slovak border is also the external border of the Alliance.
According to the ministry, the agreement was concluded for an indefinite period and comes into force from the date of receipt through diplomatic channels of the last written notification of the completion of the domestic procedures necessary for its entry into force.
An airport for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may be built in Kyiv by 2025, said head of the All-Ukrainian Federation of UAV Owners, DJI distributor in Ukraine, Taras Troiak.
“We have a Quadroport project that we want to build in Kyiv. This will be the first drone airport where it will be possible to test any type of UAV (…) This is an ambitious project. We plan to build it by 2025. There is a small component there so far, but we look at development and realize that it is necessary,” he said during the Infrastructure Digital Day on Tuesday.
According to him, the UAV market in Ukraine will reach about UAH 500 million in 2020.
“This year it has grown 2.5 times compared to last. And next year we already hope that the market will be more than UAH 1 billion,” he said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky during a working visit to Odesa region was informed on the implementation of the project of reconstruction and construction of the Odesa International Airport airfield complex, the president’s press office announced.
Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy noted that the new runway of Odesa airport is 2,800 meters in length and 45 meters in width. The new airfield will allow to accommodate airplanes in category D designated for mid- and long-duration flights, in particular, Boeing-747-400/800, in category III ICAO and other aircraft with a capacity up to 300 passengers. The overall cost of the aerodrome reconstruction project totals UAH 3.9 billion.
The minister added that the new runway will allow Odesa airport to receive more than 2 million passengers a year, a new taxi strip, when constructed, to receive more than 5 million.
Zelensky inquired if there was a passenger demand for the construction of a new airport strip.
“There is a demand, of course, because Odesa is a tourist city, it is developing. This year, the Travel Ukraine program was launched, and Odesa airport accepted too many passengers, even despite COVID-19 challenges we face today,” Krykliy said.
Head of Zhytomyr Regional Administration Vitaliy Bunechko reported on the ongoing work with a private investor who is seriously considering the issue of building an international airport in Zhytomyr as a public-private partnership.
“In order for the airport to work within the framework of the international airport, it is necessary to complete the construction of the runway. To complete it, we need UAH 360 million. What are we doing in this direction? A certain land plot has been transferred to the city. We are now very actively working with the private investor who is seriously considering the construction of the international airport within a public-private partnership. The idea is even to make a cargo hub here to unload Kyiv, the Zhuliany and Boryspil airports, to make a hub here to fly here and send cargo across Ukraine,” he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Speaking about road construction, Bunechko said that since the beginning of his work as head of the regional administration in August 2019, he was skeptical about whether the Chinese contractors would be in due time with the construction of a ring road around Zhytomyr, since they violated all the deadlines.
“But the pace with which they are now making the road, and the kilometers of the road that are already there, all this gives hope and optimism,” he said.
Bunechko said that the region now has a new approach to regional roads, and not “patching up” roads.
“When I reported to the president about my first 100 days of work, I said that there would be 90 km of roads, he asked: “Are you going to build roads in 10 years?” We have a network of 7,000 km. He said that we need to look for opportunities. I want to say today it is 140 km of regional roads, which are already being repaired, despite all the obstacles that were in the antimonopoly committee. We have overcome them, we have completely tendered all our 53 highway points, all roads are being repaired. There are some roads that have already been completed, now they will be put into operation, it remains to obtain permits,” he said.
The governor said that the most critical sections of roads were selected throughout Zhytomyr region, and soon everyone will feel that the roads are being built.
