Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) has installed the first laboratory for PCR and antibody tests at Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv region).
UIA President Yevhen Dykhne said on Facebook that now the laboratory will be used to test UIA crews, however, it will also be able to provide for the needs of departing or arriving passengers, if the arrival country requires a corresponding certificate.
“For example, Tunisia, with which air traffic will soon be restored, allows free border crossing with the availability of a PCR test,” he added.
Dykhne said that a PCR test currently has the highest specificity and sensitivity, in contrast to rapid tests. The material for analysis is a throat swab, and the analysis takes three hours. At the same time, a possible simultaneous loading of the laboratory is 96 samples.
In addition, he said the laboratory also provides for the option of an urgent PCR test of one individual sample within 40 minutes and testing for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, which allows to determine the earlier infection and the presence of immunity (the test material is blood from a vein, the speed is 86 tests per hour).
International airport “Kyiv” named after Sikorsky began to accept international passenger flights, the airport’s website said in a statement.
The airport launches only eight flights out of 28 flights on June 17: Belavia flight to Minsk, Wizz Air flights to Dortmund, Budapest, London (Luton), Memmingham, Tallinn and Copenhagen, as well as Motor Sich flight to Zaporizhia. The airport also receives eight flights on arrival on Wednesday.
Only four flights out of 28 are available for departure in the schedule for June 18, and eight flights are available for arrival.
Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport has canceled all regular international passenger flights until 03:00 on June 17, 2020 due to the extension of the COVID-19 quarantine in the capital, the airport’s website reports.
The reason for the cancellation of flights at the airport is cabinet resolution No. 392 of May 20, 2020.
Passengers are advised to closely monitor the flight schedule and clarify information with the airline representatives.
As reported, on June 12 the Cabinet of Ministers lifted the temporary ban on entry to Ukraine for foreigners and resumed operation of 15 checkpoints for air traffic at international airports.
The Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine is preparing for building an airport in Mukachevo (Zakarpattia region), Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy has said.
“Now it is very important to maintain and develop regional airports. After all, during the pandemic, domestic tourism will remain a priority,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to him, the reconstruction of the runway at the Odesa International Airport is also currently being completed (98% readiness); the airport is being modernized in Dnipro (the new runway, international and VIP terminals); the runway at the Kherson airport is improving; installation of aeronautical equipment at the Mykolaiv airfield is nearing completion.
Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport has asked the president of Ukraine, the prime minister, the Minister of Infrastructure and the mayor of Kyiv to take a number of measures aimed at providing assistance for its maintenance in connection with quarantine. The corresponding appeal of Kyiv International Airport and Master Avia LLC was posted on the airport’s website.
The authorities, in particular, are asked to provide financial assistance in the amount of UAH 22 million per month for the payment of salaries to employees and to maintain the airfield and the airport in working condition for the period when it stopped working and quarantine is over until a passenger flow reaches 20,000 passengers per month for departure.
It also asks to remove restrictions for Kyiv Airport in terms of performing flights during the suspension of flights, because, as the company explains, at present, preferences for the operation of transport, business aviation and evacuation flights are provided exclusively to Boryspil airport.
They also ask to allocate a targeted subsidy of $15 per passenger to provide discounts to airlines for a period of 1.5-2 years for the resumption of passenger traffic, provide assistance in refinancing a loan in the amount of $28 million at a minimum interest rate and with a long-term maturity, provide land tax benefits for Master Avia LLC and Kyiv International Airport, create a commission to support the aviation industry with the participation of representatives of Master Avia LLC and Kyiv International Airport.
The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air on July 1, 2020 will open a new base at the Lviv International Airport, where it will place one Airbus A320 aircraft.
“It will become the second airline’s base in Ukraine. In addition, Wizz Air announces the opening of seven new routes to Billund (Denmark), Tallinn (Estonia), Lisbon (Portugal), Hamburg (Germany), Szczecin (Poland) from Lviv, and also from Kharkiv to Tallinn and Berlin (Germany),” the airline said on Wednesday.
