The head of the office of the National Investment Council of Ukraine, Olha Mahaletska, predicts a decrease in the interest of potential investors in regional airports, according to the website of the council. “Previously, one of the most attractive areas for investment was infrastructure, namely, concession of airports, but after the pandemic the world will change, the focus of interest will change. I do not think that now regional airports will be considered by potential investors as one of the most interesting topics,” she notes.
According to Mahaletska, the council is already conducting the sector analysis to understand which areas may be attractive to investors in the post-pandemic period.
At the same time, the council said, with reference to professor at Georgetown University Anders Aslund, that after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukrainian economy will be in a slightly better position than the economy of the European Union: while the EU will lose about 10% of GDP in 2020, Ukraine will lose about 8%.
The head of the office said that the timely introduction by the Ukrainian government of a quarantine was a very correct decision, which helped contain the spread of the disease in the country.
The airports of Ukraine in January-February 2020, according to recent data, served 3.237 million passengers, which is 15% more than in the same period in 2019.
According to the website of the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine, passenger flow of Ukrainian airports on international routes during the indicated period rose by 16.6%, to 1.913 million people.
According to statistics from the agency, in January-February 2020 Ukrainian airlines served 1.547 million people, which is 3.1% more than in the same period in 2019. Of these, 1.385 million passengers were transported in international traffic (an increase of 3% compared to January-February 2019).
At the same time, for the two months of 2020, Ukrainian airlines operated 12,700 commercial flights (a decrease of 2.9%), including 10,500 international flights (a decrease of 2.6%).
As reported, in 2019 Ukrainian airports served 24.337 million passengers, which is 18.5% more than in 2018.
Ukrainian airports tentatively serviced 24.337 million passengers in 2019, which is 18.5% more than in 2018.
According to a posting on the website of the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine, the passenger flow on it routes grew by 19.8%, to 21.996 million people.
The administration said that in 2019, Ukrainian airlines serviced 13.722 million people, which is 9.5% more than in 2018. A total of 12.56 million passengers were carried on international routes (growth by 9.7% compared with 2018).
Last year, Ukrainian airlines performed 102,600 commercial flights (an increase of 2.4% compared to 2018), including 86,200 international one (an increase of 2.6%).
As reported, in 2018 the passenger flow of Ukrainian airports amounted to 20.546 million people, which corresponds to a 24.5% increase compared to 2017.
Passenger flows at the Ukrainian airports in January-October 2019 grew by 18.8% year-over-year, to 20.745 million people. According to recent update on the website of the State Aviation Service, in particular, passenger flows on international routes grew by 20.1%, to 18.766 million.
Volumes of passenger traffic of Ukrainian airlines increased 10.3%, to 11.923 million people. (on international routes by 10.5%, to 10.943 million people).
During January-October 2019, Ukrainian airlines operated 88,400 commercial flights (an increase of 3.4%), including 74,600 international (growth by 3.5%).
As reported, Ukrainian airlines transported about 12.5 million passengers in 2018, which is 18% more than in 2017. Passenger traffic through the country’s airports increased 25% in 2018, to 20.55 million people.
The issue of building airports is a priority for 2020, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We will build an airport in Dnipro. We are not postponing anything: we will build airports in 2020. And not only in Dnipro,” he said during a press marathon in Kyiv on Thursday.
According to the head of state, funds for the construction of an airport in Dnipro may not be available in the current draft national budget, since the document has not yet been finalized and all amendments have not been made to it.
“We agreed that we are one team, and we will discuss the final budget together with the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister. They have not yet come to me with the final budget,” Zelensky said.
The president also said that a report from an independent commission on the construction of a bridge in Dnipro was almost ready. In a week, he plans to get it and consider it, after which he will be ready to talk about this construction project with Dnipro City Mayor Borys Filatov.
Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry has decided to postpone corporatization of state-owned enterprise (SOE) Boryspil international airport, Director General Pavlo Riabikin said at a press conference at the airport on Thursday.
“There is no final government decision on the corporatization of the Boryspil airport, but at the level of the Infrastructure Ministry, during all consultations that lasted about six months, we decided to set aside the issue of corporatization and stay at the level of implementing corporate governance at the airport,” he said.
According to Riabikin, the issue of corporatization does not have a final decision today: the problem is that the main part of the property of the Boryspil airport belongs to the category of property that cannot be included the charter capital and cannot be privatized – this is, first of all, the entire airfield. If we compare the cost of these facilities with what can be transferred as part of the corporatization – the ratio is about three to one, the director of the airport said.
He said that, in theory, this can be solved by a separate law, as it was done with Ukrzaliznytsia, or by introducing elements of corporate governance, leaving now the status of SOE.
“Corporatization with such a large amount of property that does not enter the enterprise will necessitate the creation of two enterprises, one of which will manage the part of the property that cannot be privatized, the second – the terminals. And in the future, this may create problems, for example, attraction of loans from European financial institutions,” the director of the airport said.
At the same time, he said that the enterprise needs such a body as a supervisory board.
On May 22, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the composition of the supervisory board of the Boryspil airport, consisting of three independent members and two state representatives.
