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).
For the second year of flights, SkyUp Airlines operated 10,900 flights and carried more than 1.7 million passengers, doubling its results for 2019 (5,200 flights, 870,000 passengers).
According to the company’s press service, the five most popular destinations for scheduled flights were Tbilisi (Georgia), Barcelona (Spain), Batumi (Georgia), Larnaca (Cyprus), Alicante (Spain). At the same time, charter flights are most carried out to Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada (Egypt), Monastir (Tunisia), Antalya (Turkey), and Tivat (Montenegro).
Over the year, the airline’s flight program expanded from 31 to 45 scheduled and from 15 to 74 charter domestic and international destinations. However, the company notes that due to the introduction of quarantine, the launch of more than 20 regular destinations has been postponed.
At the same time, in March-May 2020, due to the introduction of quarantine, SkyUp completed more than 150 irregular commercial special flights, returning home more than 26,000 people.
In addition, during quarantine, the airline launched a new line of business – freight transportation. For these purposes, the carrier converted nine aircraft from its fleet and, since April, has already completed about 100 flights, transporting mainly medical goods.
Currently, SkyUp is preparing to launch its own handling department to improve the quality of service for the airline’s passengers at Boryspil Airport.
Boryspil International airport sees 17% rise in passenger traffic in Jan
KYIV. Feb 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) in January 2020 increased passenger flow by 17% compared with January 2019, to 1.049 million people.
The press service of the airport told Interfax-Ukraine that 968,800 passengers were transported on international flights (a rise of 18.6%) and 81,000 – on domestic flights (a rise of 1.3%).
The number of flights (arrivals/departures) in January 2020 amounted to 7,662 (a rise of 1.3% compared to January 2019), including 6,727 international flights (a rise of 3.2%) and 935 domestic flights (a fall of 10.9%).
As reported, in 2019, Boryspil Airport increased passenger traffic by 21.2%, to 15.26 million people.
Boryspil International Airport is the largest one in Ukraine with a total area of about 1,000 hectares.
The Boryspil international airport from January 26, 2020 started temperature screening of passengers arriving directly from China, specialists and equipment have been prepared, the Health Ministry of Ukraine has reported. “From January 26, screening of passengers arriving directly from China will begin at the Boryspil airport. The sanitary-quarantine department specialists have already been trained and equipped with infrared thermometers,” the ministry said on its Facebook page on January 25 in the evening.
It is also reported that on Saturday the World Health Organization (WHO) updated screening guidelines at points of entry into countries where the spreading of a new coronavirus has not yet been recorded.
“Previous WHO experience has shown that introducing body temperature screening to identify potential suspected cases of coronavirus required significant investments and was not effective enough. However, during the outbreak of coronavirus 2019-nCoV, most cases of illness at airports were detected precisely because of temperature screening. This method reduces the risk of introducing the coronavirus into the country,” the Health Ministry said.
Also, to minimize the risk of coronavirus infection, WHO recommends routine SARS prevention activities.
As reported, a pneumonia outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan began in December 2019, as a result of a new strain of coronavirus.
Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) in 2019 increased passenger traffic by 21.1% compared to 2018, to 15.260 million people.The press service of the enterprise told Interfax-Ukraine that the figure on international flights over the indicated period amounted to 14.163 million people (an increase of 22.2%), on domestic some 1.096 million (an increase of 8.3%).The number of flights in 2019 amounted to 110,660 for arrival/departure, which is 14.2% more than in 2018, in particular 97,428 international flights (16.1% more), and 13,232 domestic flights (1.4% more).In December 2019, passenger flow at Boryspil airport amounted to 1.053 million people, which is 12.6% more than in December 2018. At the same time, passenger traffic on international flights amounted to 973,100 people (13.8% more), and on domestic flights some 80,600 (0.2% more).The number of flights in December 2019 amounted to 7,800 for arrival/departure, which is 1.2% more than in the same period in 2018, including 6,865 (3.5% more) international flights, and 935 domestic flights (12.8% less).
About one million passengers used the services of the Kyiv Boryspil Express train from Kyiv to Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) over the year, the press service of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia (Kyiv) has reported, with reference to head of the company Yevhen Kravtsov.
“I’m sure no one will argue now that the express train to Boryspil airport is needed. During its first year of operation, it made about 10,000 trips and transported almost one million passengers. And this is the indisputable evidence of success of this project,” Kravtsov said.
The report notes that a record number of passengers was transported in August and September 2019 with 98,200 and 107,600 people respectively. The most popular trains are No. 842 Kyiv-Boryspil at 17:50 and No. 845 Boryspil-Kyiv at 19:17.
According to the head of Ukrzaliznytsia, the company plans to further develop this project. Currently, the reconstruction of the Vydubychi station is nearing completion, where a stop platform for the express train will be built.
“Vydubychi station will turn into a transport hub that will combine bus transportation, railways, subway and air transport. In addition, a diesel train manufactured by Kriukov Car Building Works is expected for this route. And this is an additional 170 seats,” he said.
Over a day, express trains carry out 57 trips and carry 2,500 passengers.
