The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine has announced the resumption of a number of special flights to the country from around the world so that Ukrainians abroad can return to their homeland, the press service of the ministry said on Sunday, citing its head Vladyslav Krykliy. “There is good news for Ukrainians who are now abroad and want to return home. We resume special flights to Ukraine from around the world, but only subject to mandatory observation within 14 days after returning to specialized institutions or at home, observing the self-isolation regime. The control over the latter will be carried out using the “Diy at home” application on the “Diia” platform, the press service quoted Krykliy.
The flights are planned from the following cities: Miami, Helsinki, Naples, Stockholm, Yerevan, Paris, Nice, Sofia, Larnaca, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Zurich, Lisbon, Geneva, Dubai, Frankfurt, Prague, Milan, Toronto, Oslo, Alicante, Riyadh, Bangkok, Phuket, Bali.
Information about flights will be posted on the websites of UIA, SkyUp Airlines, Windrose Airlines and Azur Air Ukraine.
Italian aviation authorities granted Ryanair, the Irish low-cost airline, temporary rights to operate 28 weekly flights between the cities of Italy and Ukraine until July 13, 2020, the National Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) has said on its website.
Ryanair was allowed to fly to Kyiv from Bergamo, Bologna, Rome, and Catania; to Odesa and Lviv from Rome, Bergamo and Bologna; and also to Kharkiv from Bergamo.
Earlier, Ryanair announced the cancellation of most of its flights from March 24. At the same time, the carrier does not expect to resume flights in April and May due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread and the introduction of significant restrictions on flights by various European countries.
Ryanair intended to launch flights from Italy to Ukraine in 2019.
“In Italy, we fly from Milan and Pisa. However, the Italian government provided certain advantages to the airline, which has only two flights. We filed a lawsuit and won the case, thus we will also fly from Italy to Ukraine,” the airline’s Chief Commercial Officer David O’Brien said.
The Ukrainian SkyUp Airlines company (Kyiv) does not plan on April 3 to carry out special flights to evacuate Ukrainian citizens from abroad.
“On April 3, we will not operate flights,” the airline’s press service told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
Earlier, head of the Ukrainian Hospitality Industry Association Oleksandr Liyev said that the Ukrainian airline on Friday, April 3, would carry out six special flights to evacuate Ukrainians home, but he did not specify the name of the carrier.
In turn, a source on the market told Interfax-Ukraine that the Ukrainian company SkyUp would be the carrier of the flights announced by Liyev.
On Friday, April 3, the Ukrainian airline company will carry out six special flights to evacuate Ukrainians home, head of the Ukrainian Hospitality Industry Association Oleksandr Liyev told Interfax-Ukraine.
“There will be six special flights to Ukraine, and all passengers will already have a paid voucher for checking-in into a hotel at EUR 100 for 14 days … The start of ticket sales is to take place tomorrow. Now there is a selection of hotels and resorts for settlement,” said Liyev, without specifying the name of the carrier.
According to the Interfax-Ukraine agency, SkyUp plans to carry out special flights.
“The carrier is the Ukrainian company SkyUp,” a market source told the agency. At the same time, the SkyUp company informed the agency that “they do not know anything” about these special flights.
Responding to a request from the Interfax-Ukraine agency, UIA noted that it “does not plan” to carry out these special flights.
According to the Cabinet of Ministers’ Decree No. 241 of March 29, the regional and Kyiv city state administrations are responsible for ensuring the arrangement of specialized institutions for observation, transportation of persons who need observation and medical supervision to them.
Hungary’s low-cost airline Wizz Air has suspended its flights from/to its hub in the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport due to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers on the temporarily closure of most Ukrainian airports. The airline said in a statement on Tuesday that flights from/to the Kyiv airport are annulled for the period from March 24 through April 14, 2020.
“Passengers with bookings affected by flight suspensions will be automatically informed via e-mail, in case the customers booked directly on wizzair.com or via the airline’s mobile app. 120% of the original fare will automatically be uploaded to the customer’s WIZZ account, with the amount to be used in the next 24 months for the purchase of Wizz Air products and services,” the airline said.
Passengers can also opt for a cash refund – which will take longer to complete – and will be informed about the necessary steps for a bank transfer or transfer to a bank card in a separate e-mail. In this case, customers will be eligible for only 100% of the original fare.
Passengers who made their bookings via travel agencies – including online travel agencies – should get in touch with the company from which they purchased their tickets, the airline said.
“Wizz Air sincerely apologizes for the disruptions the travel ban could bring to the customers and assures that safety and well-being of its passengers and crew remains the airline’s top priority,” the airline said.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv) does not feel a decrease in passenger traffic due to information about the active spread of coronavirus, the airline’s press service has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“There are passengers with tickets for flights to Italy who requested to re-arrange their flights for later dates. We do this as an exception to a term of two months from the original date. But there are very few of them,” the press service said.
According to UIA, in total, there were 26 such requests through the airline’s Facebook page, of which five returns were issued, and 21 tickets were reissued for other dates.
At the same time, UIA does not currently plan to limit the flight program to Italy.
As reported, the Hungarian low cost airline Wizz Air reduces the number of flights to Italy from March 11 to April 2, 2020 due to a decrease in demand because of coronavirus.
