Technically, it will take up to two weeks for airports to reopen in Ukraine, but in practice this can be done only with guaranteed security, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
“We consider Lviv airport as the first airport. I hope that, as it was with the Black Sea Grain Initiative, when we receive guaranteed security, guarantees, first of all, from international partners, from the UN, we will start, I hope,” he said on 17th annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) held by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation at the end of this week in Kyiv.
Answering questions, Kubrakov stressed that the main obstacle to the resumption of flights of civil ships is safety, not technical issues.
As reported, the Ukrainian sky has been closed for flights of civil aircraft since the first day of the full-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation – from February 24 of this year.
At the end of July, the Transcarpathian Regional Council decided to allocate 26 million UAH to the Uzhgorod airport, and the head of the regional council Volodymyr Chubirko expressed confidence that it would be possible to launch it “in a month or two.” According to him, the advantage of the Uzhgorod airport is that the threshold of the runway is located a few hundred meters from the Ukrainian-Slovak border and Slovak airspace is used for instrument landings at this airfield.
However, a few days later, the Head of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration, Viktor Mikita, refuted the statements of the Transcarpathian Regional Council regarding plans for the early resumption of the work of the Uzhgorod airport. “… Now statements about the resumption of the airport’s work are nothing more than wishes and intentions,” Mikita stressed.
The British consulting company Skytrax has presented the winners of The World’s Best Airports in 2022 rating according to the results of a passenger survey, Boryspil International Airport took the seventh place.
According to a report on the airport’s website on Wednesday, the top ten included the airports of Batumi, Budapest, Tallinn, Bucharest, Riga, Tbilisi, Boryspil International Airport, as well as Belgrade, Bratislava and Zagreb airports.
In 2021, Boryspil ranked fifth in the Skytrax rating.
“The fact that Boryspil International Airport was ranked among the top ten airports demonstrates its standards of work with passengers to ensure their comfort and safety. The war suddenly suspended the operation of the airport. But nothing will change our confidence in the victory of Ukraine, its peaceful and independent development. I believe in the future of the main air gates of the country – Boryspil International Airport,” Oleksiy Dubrevsky, CEO of the airport, is quoted in the message.
Skytrax is a British consulting company that has been evaluating the quality of service for airports and airlines around the world since 1989.
The World Airport Awards are presented based on a survey of more than 13 million passengers at 550 airports around the world.
Ukrainian airports in January 2022, according to recent data, served almost 1.226 million passengers, which is 135.3% more than in the same month last year.
According to the website of the State Aviation Service of Ukraine, in international traffic, passenger traffic of airports increased by 143.8% in January of this year, to 1.103 million people.
Ukrainian airlines served 515,500 people during the reporting period (79.6% more). In particular, 458,600 people were transported in international traffic (81% more).
At the same time, in January of this year, the airlines operated 4,700 commercial flights (an increase of 51.6%), including 3,600 international ones (56.5% more).
Ukrainian airports in 2021, according to recent data, served 16.221 million passengers, which is 87.2% more than in 2020.
According to the website of the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine, on international routes, passenger traffic at airports over the past year increased by 93.4% – to 14.753 million people.
Ukrainian airlines served 9.348 million people in 2021 (more by 94.9%), including in international traffic, almost 8.623 million people were transported (up 101.1%).
At the same time, over the past year, airlines operated 73,800 commercial flights (an increase of 62.9%), including 59,900 international (up 69.7%).
As reported, in 2020 Ukrainian airports served 8.664 million passengers, which is 64.4% less than in 2019.
The start of repair work at three regional airports in Ukraine and the completion of work at the airports of Dnipro and Kryvy Rih is scheduled for 2022.”In 2022 we plan the start of work at Poltava airport, since the design and estimate documentation will be approved by the state examination by the end of this year, a tender will be announced and we hope that construction work will begin next year,” advisor to the Big Construction presidential program Oleh Varyvoda said during the forum “Great Construction: Aviation. Tourism” in Kyiv.According to him, plans for 2022 include the beginning of reconstruction at the airports of Zhytomyr and Chernivtsi. In addition, in 2022, it is planned to complete work at the airports of Dnipro and Kryvy Rih.
Airports of Ukraine in January-June 2021, according to operational data, served 5.5 million passengers, which is 32.2% more than in January-June 2020.
The passenger traffic of airports in international traffic for the specified period increased by 32.1% – up to 5 million people, the website of the State Aviation Service of Ukraine reported.
In addition, Ukrainian airlines served 3.5 million people in the six months of 2021, which is 73.8% higher than in the six months of 2020. Including in international traffic 3.2 million people were transported (an increase of 78.6%).
At the same time, in January-June 2021, airlines performed 29,400 commercial flights (an increase of 47.7%), including 23,700 international (42.8% more).
As reported, at the end of 2020, Ukrainian airports served 8.7 million passengers, which is 64.4% less than in 2019.
