The likelihood of cooperation between the State Agency for Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) and Alitalia in the development of road infrastructure and “smart roads” was discussed by Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy and Italian Ambassador to Ukraine Davide La Cecilia in Kyiv on Friday.
“The minister briefed the ambassador on a number of important investment projects that are planned in the industry, in particular, in the construction of highways, bridges, concessions of seaports and railway stations. The parties also discussed possible cooperation between Ukravtodor and Alitalia in the development of road infrastructure and ‘smart roads.’ In addition, they noted the importance of developing airports and container trains,” the ministry said in a message on its website.
Krykliy also stressed the interest of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine in the resumption of the work of the Ukrainian-Italian Council for Economic, Industrial and Financial Cooperation with the aim of enhancing relations in the field of transport and infrastructure.
He positively noted the long-term and mutually beneficial relations between Ukraine and Italy in the field of aviation and confirmed his readiness to act on the principle of reciprocity, positively considering all requests from air carriers that will be appointed by the Italian side.
In addition, the parties discussed further cooperation between the two countries in road traffic.
Irish Ryanair Holdings Plc, Europe’s largest air low-cost carrier, is intended to resume flights from Ukraine to Italy starting from July 6, Ryanair Ukraine reported on Telegram.
“The largest Europe’s low-cost Ryanair planned opening of the regular flights from Ukraine to Italy in July,” reads a report.
In particular, Ryanair will operate flights from Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and Odesa.
Thus, starting from July 6, the airline plans to resume flights Kyiv-Rome, Kyiv-Milan (Bergamo), Lviv-Bologna, Kharkiv-Milan (Bergamo), Odesa-Bologna, Odesa-Milan (Bergamo).
Starting from July 7, Ryanair plans to launch flights on the route Kyiv-Bologna, Kyiv-Catania, Lviv-Milan (Bergamo).
From July 8, the resumption of flights Lviv-Rome and Odesa-Rome is expected.
It was reported that the prices started from EUR 40 for one-way ticket. The tickets for purchase are available in the reservation system on the carrier’s website.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal expects in 2020, after the quarantine is over, a meeting of the Ukrainian-Italian Council on Economic Cooperation and the holding of a common business forum.
“After the quarantine is over, we expect to hold a meeting of the Ukrainian-Italian Council for Economic Cooperation and organize a joint business forum as part of the visit of Prime Minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte to Ukraine this year,” the government’s press service quoted Shmyhal as saying following a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Italian Republic to Ukraine Davide La Cecilia and a delegation of representatives of Italian companies operating in Ukraine.
The Ambassador of the Italian Republic to Ukraine Mr. Davide La Cecilia, in turn, added that Ukraine is of interest for investors.
“Italy is one of Ukraine’s first commercial partners at the global and European level, and we have set a goal of increasing investment and deepening economic cooperation,” said Cecilia.
The parties agreed to intensify cooperation in various areas of the economy, in particular, in the development of energy, agribusiness and infrastructure.
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.
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) in connection with information on coronavirus spread offers passengers who have flights to Italy and a number of other countries in March-April 2020 to change the departure date for free, the company’s press service has said.
“To date, there are no any prohibitions on the termination of air traffic with Italy received from international or national competent authorities. In this regard, UIA continues to fly to Italian cities, namely, to Rome, Milan and Venice according to the plan. The airline understands that some passengers who planned their trips to/from Italy in March and April may be concerned about this situation. Thus, UIA offers the opportunity to change the departure date free of charge within the tickets’ validity (if there are free seats in the initial booking class),” reads the statement.
The offer concerns flights from Ukraine to Italy, Germany and Switzerland; from Italy to India, Turkey and Egypt; from Italy, Austria, Spain, France, Germany and Switzerland to Israel and applies to the transit flights through Ukraine to Italy.
All additional services are automatically transferred to the next flight. Tickets are returned in accordance with the rules of the applicable fare.
“Now we are receiving single requests for changing the departure date, there are no mass refusals of passengers to fly to Italian cities, flight loading remains high. Many airlines reduce or even cancel flights to Italy. We understand how important it is to maintain air traffic between countries and economies in this situation. For our part, to make sure the safety of the flights of our passengers and crews, we take all possible measures and follow the appeal issued in the IATA press release, namely do our job consistently and professionally, without panic,” Yevhenia Satska, UIA Communications Director, 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.
