The Kyiv Sikorsky International Airport in January-October 2018 serviced 2.42 million passengers, which is 56.3% more than a year ago. “November 13, the Kyiv airport serviced the 2.5 millionth passenger since the beginning of 2018… The plans of the airport are to service 2.8 million passengers in 2018,” the airport said in a press release on Wednesday. Passenger flow increased 64.2%, to 1.85 million. According to the report, in October this year, passenger traffic increased 48.6% from October of last year, to 259,100 passengers.
The airport said that 2.35 million passengers were serviced on international flights in January-October of this year, and only 73,000 passengers on domestic flights, including 251,600 and 7,500 respectively in October.
The number of flights increased 32.9% in January-October 2018, to 25,900, of which international ones made up 21,880. In October, the increase in the number of flights was 27%, to 2,720, including 2,270 international flights.
According to the release, the most popular international destinations in January-October 2018 were Minsk (Belarus), Warsaw (Poland), Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), Dubai (the United Arab Emirates), Antalya (Turkey), Ankara (Turkey), Rome ( Italy); internal – Odesa, Zaporizhia, and Lviv.
The first international serial will be filmed in Kyiv with the involvement of a team of cinema makers of the world level together with a group from 1+1 Media, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko has announced. “Dear friends, Kyiv is becoming a European movie set for cinema making. Well-known European and U.S. producers and scriptwriters together with a group from 1+1 Media will shoot the first international serial in our city,” Klitschko wrote in a post on Facebook on November 12.
He said the project is planned for distribution by one of the international streaming platforms.
“The shooting of the pilot episode is starting in Kyiv on November 13. Today a memorandum on such cooperation was signed at the Royal Norwegian embassy in Ukraine. I am thankful to H.E. Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Ukraine Ole Horpestad for supporting this project. On its part, our city will provide all the necessary support and assistance,” the mayor of Kyiv said.
The project will involve a team of U.S. and Norwegian scriptwriters and producers. The shooting will be done by Norwegian company Evil Doghouse Production together with Ukrainian company 1+1 Production. The serial named Jonathan Fort will tell the story of the life of a former boxer who gets a new and dangerous job at the Royal Norwegian embassy in Ukraine. About 80% of the storyline will be shot in Kyiv and Odesa.
“Today international stars shoot their clips in the Ukrainian capital, large international companies shoot their ads, and the world learns more about Kyiv. As a result, we get more tourists. And we continue to develop the tourist infrastructure in the capital by creating beautiful locations. Because all of this goes for the benefit of our city,” Klitschko said.
Municipal enterprise Kyiv Metropoliten, the customer for construction of a subway line to the Vynohradar residential area in Kyiv, has reported that after a tender OJSC Kyivmetrobud offered the lowest price for the implementation of works and the acceptation procedure has been launched.
“In the ProZorro public procurement system, a tender for the construction of the Syretsko-Pecherska subway line section from the Syrets station to the Vynohradar residential area with a depot in the Podilsky district (the section from the Syrets station to the Pravdy Avenue station with two stations (Mostytska and Pravdy Avenue) and the section towards the Vynohradar station (the first stage of construction) was completed,” Kyiv Metropoliten reported last week on its Facebook page.
According to the report, the lowest price for the work was offered by OJSC Kyivmetrobud – UAH 12.214 million below expected value.
“In accordance with the legislation, the procedure for acceptance has begun,” Kyiv Metropoliten reported.
According to the screenshot of the corresponding tender from the Prozorro website posted in the same message, Kyivmetrobud offered to perform the said work for UAH 5.981 billion with VAT.
Kyiv Metropoliten announced a tender for the construction of a subway line from the Syrets station towards the Vynohradar residential area in the Podilsky district worth UAH 6.3 billion in January 2018. The date of the tender was repeatedly postponed. The tender completed recently was announced on September 11, 2018. The expected cost of work at the last auction fell to UAH 5.99 billion.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative in Ukraine Goesta Ljungman has reported on the upcoming visit to Kyiv of experts of the fund to discuss the 2019 draft budget, the adoption of which is a condition for providing Ukraine with funding for the new stand by program. According to Ljungman, the experts will stay in Ukraine on November 4-9.
Over 2,000 participants of the fifth Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF) were exchanging ideas and experience, finding partners, clients, and investors on October 18–19, 2018 in Kyiv. KIEF has confirmed its reputation as a world-class business event and a powerful platform for dialogue between Ukrainian and foreign business, which plays the role of a generator of new investment projects.
More than 100 speakers—well-known entrepreneurs, economists, investors, representatives of financial organizations and authorities from more than 30 countries have participated in this Forum. More than 150 representatives of both Ukrainian and foreign media—from the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Poland, and France—have covered the Forum.
The Forum was opened by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman. He drew attention to the growth of Ukraine’s GDP for ten quarters in a row and the country’s rise in most global ratings, but he also noted that we can and must achieve even greater growth because Ukraine has a large unrealized potential. Mr. Prime Minister is confident that human capital can help the Ukrainian economy to grow by more than 5% a year. Therefore, one of the Government’s priorities is investment in education and training of professional personnel.
The future of countries, businesses, and communities in the high-tech world, where breakthrough technologies and rapid transformations change the rules of the game on the conventional markets, was the key topic of this year’s KIEF. World-renowned experts from various fields gave their insights and predictions about key changes that will influence the humankind in the coming years, and what countries and businesses need to do to use the challenges of the new era for the better. During the discussions, the issue of human capital was of top priority because innovation requires talents and developed ecosystems, not cheap labor and raw materials.
“Five years ago, when I was inviting foreign investors to Ukraine, I told them about cheap labor and smart people. But today these advantages do not work—technology is more important. There are two challenges facing the manufacturing—robotization and artificial intelligence. To effectively use these innovations and beat the competition, companies need talented professionals. Therefore, it is important to ensure all possible conditions for talents to stay in the country and create successful teams here,” comments the initiator of KIEF and founder of the UFuture Investment Group Vasyl Khmelnytsky.
Foreign investors also pointed out the rich human potential of our country. In particular, José Manuel Entrecanales, CEO of Acciona, which entered Ukraine with large investments in renewable energy this year, noted that “Ukraine has more talent that you would normally find at an emerging market.”
Vasyl Khmelnytsky brought into focus another aspect of the new era: “Today many large companies in Ukraine are introducing innovations. As a result, there will be job cuts. Therefore, the state needs to support small and medium businesses, as they can create millions of jobs and balance the situation in the labor market.”
KIEF also plays an important reputation role—it represents Ukraine to foreign business. The Forum helps Ukrainian and foreign entrepreneurs meet in person, find common language and interests, as well as agree on the development of joint projects. Like in previous years, KIEF was attended by numerous delegations of potential investors, this time from Italy, Spain, and others.
Participants of the panel discussions of KIEF 2018 paid much attention to the global competition and transformations businesses need to undergo in various areas in order to survive in modern conditions. During the Forum, industry specialists and entrepreneurs also searched for answers to current issues of the local economy. Among them were: creating innovation ecosystems to retain qualified personnel inside the country, search for resources to develop transport infrastructure, interaction of small, medium and large businesses, introduction of new technologies in the agricultural sector, etc.
Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF) is a permanent platform for the formation of Ukraine’s economic development strategy. It is aimed at organizing a dialogue between experts, business and government, adopting the best international experience, creating a roadmap for development and facilitating the conversion of ideas into real actions. www.forumkyiv.org.
PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia is holding talks about the electrification of the track section from Kyiv to the Boryspil International Airport, acting Board Chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia Yevhen Kravtsov said on the sidelines of the event devoted to the final stage of the selection of projects at Future of Mobility Lab.UZ edition on October 29.
According to him, in case of passenger traffic growth, the company plans to add a diesel train produced by Kriukov Car Building Works on the Central Railway Station – Boryspil Airport route.
“Depending on the demand in the project launch process, we are planning to increase the number of trains and cars of trains. We have an agreement with the KCBW [Kriukov Car Building Works] for the supply of diesel trains. Perhaps they will be exploited in this section in the future, if there is a demand,” he said.
According to Kravtsov, the project’s payback period is 9-10 years, and the planned load during the first year should be at least 80% of the capacity.
“Now we are coordinating the schedule, since after the launch of this express train, the section between Darnytsia and Boryspil will be one of the most stressful in Ukraine, especially considering the large number of passengers, including commuter traffic. We plan that in the first stages of launching the frequency in the peak hours will be about 30-40 minutes, in non-peak hours – 40 minutes or an hour and a half,” Kravtsov said.
He also said that now Ukrzaliznytsia is discussing the need for night trains with the airport – the need for such trips is being discussed, taking into account the small number of night flights from the airport.
The train will be launched by the end of November, but there is no exact date yet, since there are a number of remarks from Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, which should be taken into account, Kravtsov said.
He also said that negotiations are now being completed with the State Aviation Service of Ukraine and UkSATSE regarding the electrification of the section from Kyiv to Boryspil.
“As soon as this is done, it will simplify the issue of using various types of trains on this route,” he said.
