Ukraine plans to open its embassy in Albania this year, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar said during a meeting with newly appointed Charge d’Affaires of the Republic of Albania in Ukraine Fation Peni.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (MFA), Bodnar informed the Albanian side about Ukraine’s plans to open its embassy in Albania in 2020 “which will mark the beginning of qualitatively new stage in the history of Ukraine-Albania relations.”
Peni passed the Ukrainian side Albania’s note on the opening of the country’s diplomatic mission in Ukraine.
The parties shared opinions about the preparations for the conclusion of an underlying agreement on friendship and cooperation between Ukraine and Albania, which will become the main document determining the framework of bilateral relations.
Bodnar and Peni also praised the resumption of air traffic between Ukraine and Albania from June 26, 2020 and the selection of Ukraine International Airlines for carrying out regular flights between the capitals of the two countries.
They also discussed intensification of the countries’ high-level political dialogue.
The first after the coronavirus lockdown charter flight, carried out by JONIKA Airlines, has departed from the Kyiv International Airport to Tirana, Albania, with Ukrainian tourists on board.
“Albania is the first country to receive tourists from Ukraine. Today, on June 26, the first charter flight has departed from Ukraine’s Kyiv Airport following the resumption of air traffic with other countries of the world,” the airport said on its Facebook page.
According to the message, the plane took off from Kyiv at 10:00.
SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) plans to resume flights to Georgia and Albania from July 1, 2020, and to other countries stipulated by the schedule before lockdown is introduced from July 15, if cancellation of entry bans is carried out according to preliminary arrangements between countries.
According to the company’s press release on Saturday, June 20, passengers are advised to review the requirements for entering the country of destination and the rules for returning to Ukraine before purchasing a ticket, as well as make sure that they have all the necessary approvals for the trip.
“If a passenger purchases a ticket to a country, rules of entry into which the passenger cannot comply with, the refund for an unused air ticket will be carried out according to the fare, but can last up to six months,” SkyUp said.
According to the airline’s data, since March 2020, SkyUp Airlines has received about 286,000 applications regarding compensation for tickets that were not used through the flight ban. However, passengers have already received EUR 13,186 and UAH 1.9 million of reimbursements, while some 4,700 passengers have issued promotional codes for a total of UAH 38.1 million.
The company also said that since the beginning of lockdown, their support service has been operating in the overloaded mode, that is, during all that time up to 13,000 applications were received daily. Therefore, due to the fact that it was physically impossible to process all of them within the period of three to five days, as under normal conditions, the time for feedback increased.
In order to resolve this issue, SkyUp is introducing the application processing automated system. This means that the passenger, after registering on the airline’s website in a personal online account, will be able to independently choose the type of reimbursement that suits him, and passengers who have previously applied for a refund, according to their wish, change the status of the application for a promotional code or transfer dates if, on a previously submitted application, a refund invoice has not been issued yet. Functionality will be available approximately in three weeks.
“The introduction of lockdown at the international level significantly affected the aviation in general, and SkyUp is no exception in this global crisis of air transportation. For us and for many airlines as well, that period made it impossible to fully perform operational activities. Therefore, we have neither the opportunity nor the economic means in order to immediately refund to all people who made the request. We understand the wish of passengers to return their funds as soon as possible. Now we need to be patient, because this process will take longer than usual. We will return the funds gradually,” the airline’s press service said, citing Director General of SkyUp Airlines Yevhen Khainatsky.
