The Irish low cost air carrier Ryanair could start operating flights from Italy to Ukraine as early as 2019, chief commercial officer of the company David O’Brien has said at a conference at the Ministry of Infrastructure. “In Italy, we fly from Milan and Pisa. But the Italian government provided certain advantages to the airline, which has only two flights. We filed a lawsuit and won the case, so maybe we will also fly from Italy to Ukraine,” he said.
Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan, in turn, noted that Ukraine plans to provide all the necessary support for the launch of flights by the Irish low cost airline on the direction Ukraine-Italy. “I believe that Ryanair will be able to fly from Italy next year,” the minister said.
He also said that the Ministry of Infrastructure had sent a corresponding letter to the Italian government, moreover, negotiations with the Italian Transport Minister were scheduled for the near future, during which Omelyan plans to raise the issue of planning flights in the Ukrainian direction.
Omelyan also noted that he expects the final settlement of Open Skies Agreement issues with the European Union in the first half of 2019.
Ryanair, the largest European low cost air carrier, is considering the possibility of establishing a company in Ukraine to create IT products, Yulia Kovaliv, the head of the National Investment Council’s office, said on the air of Radio NV. “One of the ideas we discussed with the Ryanair leadership is to establish an internal company in Ukraine, which develops all IT products for the low cost carrier,” she said. Kovaliv also noted that in the near future the company plans to start domestic flights in Ukraine.
“If we are talking about the launch of domestic flights by the carrier in the country, then, again, the level of airport charges is important, but all companies understand that the cheaper the ticket is, the faster the airline will become competitive,” she said.
As reported, Ryanair began flights to Ukraine on the route Berlin-Kyiv-Berlin from September 3. Ryanair offers flights from Kyiv to six cities in Poland, one destination in Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Slovakia, the UK and Sweden, as well as two destinations from Lviv to Germany and Poland, one to the UK. Ryanair (Ireland) is the largest low cost airline in Europe.
Ryanair, the largest European low-cost airline, will launch a new flight from Kyiv to Bydgoszcz, the administrative center of Poland’s Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, on October 31.
“+1 Ryanair flight from Boryspil to Poland as soon as this fall. In total, there are 17 directions handled by this company between Ukraine and the EU, and this fall there will be pleasant surprises from Europe’s No. 1 carrier!” Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan wrote on Facebook on June 26.
According to Ryanair’s booking system, flights to Bydgoszcz will be carried out twice a week – on Wednesdays and Sundays. Currently, prices start from EUR22 (one way).
Taking into account this route, Ryanair offers flights from Kyiv to six Polish cities and one destination to Germany, Spain, Lithuania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and Sweden each, as well as two routes from Lviv to Germany and Poland each, and one to the United Kingdom.
Ukraine, in particular the Boryspil international airport, have good opportunities for creating an aircraft servicing site in the conditions of a shortage of these services in Europe, and the largest European low cost airline Ryanair showed its interest in these opportunities, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan has said.
“In Europe, all slots are booked for two years ahead,” he said at a meeting in the European Business Association (EBA) on Thursday.
Omelyan said that in the middle of July representatives of Ryanair will arrive in Kyiv and they will get acquainted with the site for the possible placement of this center.
In his opinion, there are enough specialists in Ukraine to provide these services, in particular, these are new opportunities for Antonov State Enterprise.
At the same time, the minister said that there are barriers to the creation of this servicing center, in particular, the legislation sets high duties on the import of spare parts.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary in May this year said that the airline is considering the possibility of opening of Ukraine’s own data center, and in the long term it is also interested in the opening of the center for servicing aircraft in Ukraine. An examination of the regulation of these activities in Ukraine, including by the European authorities, should be conducted.
Ireland’s low cost airline Ryanair is holding talks with five Ukrainian airports on launching flights and hopes to start flying to new destination to Ukraine in 2019, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has said in an interview with the Ukrainian Tourism Newspaper. “Now we are negotiating with five more Ukrainian cities – maybe next summer we will open our flights there. I think we will develop in Ukraine very aggressively and rapidly increase the pace of our presence in the market,” he said.
At the same time, O’Leary expressed regret that the airline cannot yet launch all the destinations from Ukraine that it would like to launch, in connection with the existing restrictions in intergovernmental agreements.
He also said that Kyiv remains the key destination for the airline. When asked if negotiations with the airports of such cities as Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Kherson and Vinnytsia are being conducted, O’Leary said that the negotiations are being held “almost with all the mentioned cities.”
“I will be very glad if next summer we will be able to offer our passengers flights to such a beautiful city as Odesa, but it is too early to talk about the specifics. Our and Ukrainian negotiators still need to work hard for the successful implementation of this project,” the Ryanair CEO said.