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.
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.
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.
Hungary’s low cost airline Wizz Air Holdings Plc plans to carry around 2.4 million passengers to/from Ukraine in 2019, which is 60% more than in 2018, Wizz Air Holdings Plc Chief Marketing and People Officer Johan Eidhagen said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
He said that in January-September 2019, the airline carried 1.8 million passengers, which is twice more than a year ago.
Currently, the airline flies from four Ukrainian cities: Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and Odesa, but from March 2020 also plans to start flying from the Zaporizhia airport.
Wizz Air, the largest low cost carrier in Central and Eastern Europe, offers flights on more than 600 routes from 25 bases, connecting 145 destinations in 44 countries. The airline fleet consists of 120 Airbus A320 and Airbus A321 aircraft.
By the end of 2019, the company intends to carry 40 million passengers.
Odesa International Airport served almost 900,900 passengers in January-July 2019, which is 12.3% more than in the same period in 2018.
According to statistics posted on the airport’s Facebook page, over 169,000 people (16% more) were served on domestic flights for the indicated period, and more than 731,800 passengers (up by 10.9%) on international flights.
On August 16 Odesa airport served the millionth passenger in 2019.
“This year we’ve managed to reach the millionth mark already in August – this is a record high for Odesa airport,” airport director for marketing and commerce Viacheslav Chehlatonev said.
Odesa International Airport LLC is a joint venture created in November 2011 by Odesa City Council and Odesa Airport Development, a private investor that finances the construction of a new airport terminal and infrastructure worth $45 million.
Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) in the second quarter and June 2019 topped the rating of ACI Europe among airports for 10-25 million passengers.
Boryspil airport said on Facebook the leading result was provided by the positive dynamics of growth in passenger traffic of 23.7% and 27.6% respectively. At the same time, in the first half of the year Boryspil International Airport ranked second, following Berlin Airport.
ACI Europe monthly compiles a rating of airports by passenger traffic, analyzing data from more than 230 European airports.
Airports Council International (ACI) is the only worldwide professional association of airportoperators. It is divided into the following branches: ACI Europe, ACI Africa, ACI Asia, ACI Latin American/Caribbean, ACI North America, and ACI Pacific.
The goals of the ACI are to represent the interests of member airports of the organization, search for ways of their cooperation with airlines and other partners to create the conditions necessary for the successful functioning of the entire industry, to promote the interests of airport operators in regulatory bodies and legislative structures, as well as in circles that influence the formation of public opinion about airport business.
