SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) plans to resume flights to Georgia and Albania from July 1, 2020, and to other countries stipulated by the schedule before lockdown is introduced from July 15, if cancellation of entry bans is carried out according to preliminary arrangements between countries.
According to the company’s press release on Saturday, June 20, passengers are advised to review the requirements for entering the country of destination and the rules for returning to Ukraine before purchasing a ticket, as well as make sure that they have all the necessary approvals for the trip.
“If a passenger purchases a ticket to a country, rules of entry into which the passenger cannot comply with, the refund for an unused air ticket will be carried out according to the fare, but can last up to six months,” SkyUp said.
According to the airline’s data, since March 2020, SkyUp Airlines has received about 286,000 applications regarding compensation for tickets that were not used through the flight ban. However, passengers have already received EUR 13,186 and UAH 1.9 million of reimbursements, while some 4,700 passengers have issued promotional codes for a total of UAH 38.1 million.
The company also said that since the beginning of lockdown, their support service has been operating in the overloaded mode, that is, during all that time up to 13,000 applications were received daily. Therefore, due to the fact that it was physically impossible to process all of them within the period of three to five days, as under normal conditions, the time for feedback increased.
In order to resolve this issue, SkyUp is introducing the application processing automated system. This means that the passenger, after registering on the airline’s website in a personal online account, will be able to independently choose the type of reimbursement that suits him, and passengers who have previously applied for a refund, according to their wish, change the status of the application for a promotional code or transfer dates if, on a previously submitted application, a refund invoice has not been issued yet. Functionality will be available approximately in three weeks.
“The introduction of lockdown at the international level significantly affected the aviation in general, and SkyUp is no exception in this global crisis of air transportation. For us and for many airlines as well, that period made it impossible to fully perform operational activities. Therefore, we have neither the opportunity nor the economic means in order to immediately refund to all people who made the request. We understand the wish of passengers to return their funds as soon as possible. Now we need to be patient, because this process will take longer than usual. We will return the funds gradually,” the airline’s press service said, citing Director General of SkyUp Airlines Yevhen Khainatsky.
For the second year of flights, SkyUp Airlines operated 10,900 flights and carried more than 1.7 million passengers, doubling its results for 2019 (5,200 flights, 870,000 passengers).
According to the company’s press service, the five most popular destinations for scheduled flights were Tbilisi (Georgia), Barcelona (Spain), Batumi (Georgia), Larnaca (Cyprus), Alicante (Spain). At the same time, charter flights are most carried out to Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada (Egypt), Monastir (Tunisia), Antalya (Turkey), and Tivat (Montenegro).
Over the year, the airline’s flight program expanded from 31 to 45 scheduled and from 15 to 74 charter domestic and international destinations. However, the company notes that due to the introduction of quarantine, the launch of more than 20 regular destinations has been postponed.
At the same time, in March-May 2020, due to the introduction of quarantine, SkyUp completed more than 150 irregular commercial special flights, returning home more than 26,000 people.
In addition, during quarantine, the airline launched a new line of business – freight transportation. For these purposes, the carrier converted nine aircraft from its fleet and, since April, has already completed about 100 flights, transporting mainly medical goods.
Currently, SkyUp is preparing to launch its own handling department to improve the quality of service for the airline’s passengers at Boryspil Airport.
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.
Ukrainian Airlines SkyUp (Kyiv) has changed the flight program to Italy and Israel amid spreading of the coronavirus (COVID-9) epidemic, the press service of the company said.
“In view of spreading of the COVID-19 as well as toughening of the measures to limit it to the different countries, in particular Italy and Israel, SkyUp Airlines is reducing its flight program to these countries,” reads the statement.
In some areas, the start of the flight program is postponed to the beginning of summer, and in some areas the number of flights will be cut.
According to the airlines, on the route Lviv – Tel Aviv flights with a departure on March 19, 26, 30, April 2, 6, 13 will be canceled. Flights on the Zaporozhzhia – Tel Aviv route with a departure on March 15, 22 and 29, April 5 and 12 will also be canceled.
In addition, the flight program on the Kharkiv-Tel Aviv route, the start of which was scheduled for March 29, is completely canceled.
Besides, SkyUp postponed the start of flights from Kyiv to Rome, Bergamo, Bologna and Pisa – on June 1, 2020; from Kyiv to Bari – on May 1; from Lviv to Rome and Bergamo – on June 1.
At the same time, flights to Naples will continue unchanged.
The start of flights to Rimini and Lamezia Terme, scheduled for May 30, as well as to Catania (early May 26), remains unchanged.
The airlines also noted that tickets for canceled flights could be exchanged free of charge for other dates or receive a full refund. In case of flight cancellation, the airline will provide a free date change or a full refund of the ticket price.
If a passenger wishes to cancel the trip to Israel for personal reasons, SkyUp will provide a free date change.
Passengers who have purchased tickets for flights Kharkov – Tel Aviv – Kharkiv will be offered a free change of the place of departure / arrival to Zaporizhia instead of Kharkiv or a full refund of the cost of the ticket.
Earlier, on the evening of March 12, Israel imposed restrictions on foreigners arriving in the country. Entry will be permitted only to those who confirm the ability to provide 14-day home quarantine.
Since March 10, Italy due to a sharp outbreak of coronavirus incidence, has imposed a ban on public gatherings, canceled sporting events, and banned movement inside the country without good reason.
The commission of the State Aviation Service of Ukraine has decided to recommend the head of the authority to authorize Windrose to operate the Dnipro-Berlin (Germany) line for regular flights for an indefinite period of time (three times a week), according to a posting on the website of the regulator.
In addition, Jonica Airlines was allowed to fly from Odesa to Prague (Czech Republic) from March 29, 2020 for an unlimited period four times a week, Eleron Airlines from Lviv to Tel Aviv (Israel) from April 1 three times a week, SkyUp from Odesa to Istanbul (Turkey) for an unlimited period of time four times a week, and Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) from Zaporizhia to Larnaca (Cyprus) for an unlimited period of time twice a week.
In addition, it was decided to increase the number of Windrose’s flights on the following lines: Kyiv-Dnipro-Kyiv (from 21 to 26 flights per week), Kyiv-Odesa-Kyiv (from three to 21 flights per week), Kyiv-Mykolaiv-Kyiv (from five to seven flights per week). The number of Azur Air Ukraine flights on the routes Kyiv-Dalaman (Turkey)-Kyiv (from two to five flights a week) and Kyiv-La Romana (Dominican Republic)-Kyiv (from two to five flights a week) has also been increased.
At the same time, the State Aviation Service left the Windrose’s application without consideration regarding obtaining rights to operate the following lines: Kyiv-Zaporizhia-Kyiv, Kyiv-Odesa-Kyiv, Kyiv-Lviv-Kyiv, Kyiv-Kherson-Kyiv, Kyiv-Kharkiv-Kyiv (all – three flights a week), as well as Kyiv-Dnipro-Kyiv (five flights a week).
In addition, the regulator decided not to allow SkyUp to obtain rights to operate the Kyiv-Venice (Italy)-Kyiv (two flights a week), Lviv-Venice-Lviv (two flights a week), Kyiv-Istanbul-Kyiv (three flights a week), Kyiv-Prague-Kyiv (seven flights a week) and Azur Air Ukraine to operate the Kyiv-Istanbul-Kyiv (seven flights a week) and Kyiv-Bodrum (Turkey)-Kyiv lines.
SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) expanded its fleet with the 11th Boeing 737-900ER aircraft.
According to the press service of the airline, the aircraft with a capacity of 215 seats is listed in the Civil Aircraft Registration under number UR-SQK. The year of production is 2008.
Currently, the aircraft is already painted in the SkyUp livery and is equipped with Split Scimitar winglets to save fuel and improve aerodynamics. In addition, British Acro seats are installed on board.
The aircraft will operate flights in all directions on the airline’s schedule.
According to SkyUp, in 2020, its fleet should be expanded with another such aircraft.
In addition to the new Boeing 737-900ER, the SkyUp Airlines fleet consists of two Boeing 737-700 NG planes, six Boeing 737-800 NG planes and two Boeing 737-900 ER planes.
SkyUp LLC was registered in Kyiv in June 2016. The founder is ACS-Ukraine LLC of Tetiana and Yuriy Alba, who also own the JoinUp! tour operator.
According to the unified register of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, the ultimate beneficiaries of SkyUp are Oleksandr (50%) and Yuriy Alba (50%).
In 2019, SkyUp Airlines completed 12,198 flights and transported more than 1.7 million passengers (the share of scheduled and charter flights in the total number of flights was almost the same).
