Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

Ukrzaliznytsia carried 473,000 passengers during first week of June

JSC Ukrzaliznytsia carried 472,900 passengers during the first week of June (June 1–7).

As noted in the company’s Telegram post on Wednesday, the largest number of passengers (over 13,000) traveled on Train No. 104 Lviv-Lozova.

“We are already receiving 340,000 ticket requests daily and transporting 80,000 people,” Ukrzaliznytsia reported.
According to data for the first week of June, the average number of passengers per car was 393. The number of passengers in children’s groups was 16,400, and the number of military personnel via the special reserve was 2,400.

UZ added that it plans to transport a total of 7 million passengers over the three summer months.
In early June, Ukrzaliznytsia told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency that this year’s summer passenger transport season would be more challenging than last year’s due to rising demand and a reduction in the number of cars.

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“Silpo” has launched ticket sales for events in its app

The “Silpo” chain has added the ability to purchase tickets for concerts, performances, museums, and other events to its mobile app, the company’s press service reported.

The “Experience Box Office” section is located on the app’s home screen and in “My Account”; it features both partner events and those organized by Silpo, including ‘Festirudy’ and “Bragary’s Chicken Circus.” Events can be filtered by city, date, and category, and purchased tickets will be sent to the user’s email.

The press service emphasized that the “Silpo” chain has become the first retailer in Ukraine to integrate such functionality directly into its app.
Silpo-Food LLC, which operates the Silpo chain, was established in early August 2016. According to information on the website, the chain operates 310 supermarkets in 60 cities across Ukraine and four Le Silpo delicatessens: in Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Odesa.

The founder of the LLC is Retail Capital, a closed-end, non-diversified venture corporate investment fund (100%, Kyiv). The ultimate beneficiary is Volodymyr Kostelman.
Silpo-Food’s revenue for 2025 increased by 13.97% compared to 2024, reaching UAH 106.013 billion, while net profit amounted to UAH 1.205 billion, compared to UAH 154.1 million for the same period the previous year.

It is part of the Fozzy Group, a commercial and industrial group with more than 825 retail outlets throughout the country. The company operates retail chains of various formats: Silpo supermarkets, Fozzy wholesale hypermarkets, Fora neighborhood stores, Thrash! discounters, Bila Romashka pharmacy supermarkets, and E-ZOO pet stores.

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Ukrzaliznytsia Introduces Flexible Ticket Pricing

Starting April 25, Ukrzaliznytsia will begin selling tickets for “luxury” class cars based on new pricing factors—ticket prices will be adjusted according to four factors.

As reported on Ukrzaliznytsia’s Telegram channel on Saturday, these changes will apply exclusively to travel in SV (luxury) and first-class cars on domestic Intercity trains.

“Dynamic pricing for tickets in the premium segment—the relevant order has passed public review and is taking effect. Ticket sales based on the new coefficients will begin on April 25. The indexation of fares in SV (luxury) cars on international trains has also been approved,” according to a statement from Ukrzaliznytsia.

To improve seat availability—which is especially important during the peak season, which is just around the corner—ticket prices in the premium segment will be flexibly adjusted based on four factors:

1. Seasonality. During periods when trains are only 70–80% full, tickets will be cheaper. And during peak months, such as August, when demand is highest, the price will be higher. In total, there will be 16 seasonality zones reflecting the current calendar of holidays, vacations, etc. This will help passengers choose more cost-effective travel times, improve seat availability during peak periods, and increase train occupancy during off-peak periods.

2. Day of the week. The lowest prices will be on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and the highest when the travel date falls on Fridays and Sundays, when demand is highest. Passengers who can change their travel date will have an additional incentive to do so, and their seats will become available for others on the most popular days.

3. Advance Purchase. The number of days before the train’s departure for which a ticket is purchased. Today, nearly 30% of passengers buy tickets on the day of travel or two days before. The new approach will encourage planning trips in advance and buying tickets at a better price. This will allow for the most efficient use of rolling stock.

4. Occupancy. If a train is 90–100% full, the price may be higher. But if there are still empty seats before departure, the price will decrease. This will allow passengers who would otherwise choose a different travel class to travel in first class or SV at a more affordable price. Implementing this mechanism requires further development of IT systems and will be implemented separately.

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Ryanair launches ‘Big Idiot seat sale’ amid CEO’s public dispute with Ilon Musk

Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair has launched a promotional “Big Idiot seat sale” amid a public dispute between the airline’s CEO Michael O’Leary and entrepreneur Ilon Musk on social network X. The promotion is of a marketing nature and applies to the carrier’s European route network, rather than a “global” sale.

The occasion for the wrangle was O’Leary’s statements that Ryanair would not install Starlink satellite internet on planes because of the extra costs and “fuel drag” from the antennas. According to the Ryanair chief, the combined installation and operating costs could be as high as $200-250 million per year. Musk responded by calling O’Leary an “idiot” and launched a poll about a hypothetical purchase of Ryanair, to which O’Leary publicly responded in the same style.

As part of the campaign, Ryanair offered 100,000 tickets priced from €16.99 one-way for flights in the coming months, saying it was using the surge of attention surrounding the conflict to promote the sale.

O’Leary also emphasized that the scenario of a “takeover” of the carrier by a non-EU resident is practically unrealizable: the EU has rules that require control of EU-registered airlines to remain with European owners (in practice, non-EU ownership is limited), and Ryanair has separate procedures in place to control and limit the rights of non-EU shareholders.

 

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Ryanair will sell 1 mln tickets cheaper than EUR20 in Ukraine after resuming flights

Ireland’s Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget airline, will offer 1 million or 20% of tickets priced below EUR20 after resuming flights from/to Ukraine, the airline’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said.

“The Minister (Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov) asked us today and we gave him a commitment that out of the 5 million seats that will be offered in the first year, 20% or 1 million seats will be sold at less than EUR20,” O’Leary told Interfax-Ukraine.

He noted that the airline will be able to realize the goal if it has a low-cost base in Ukrainian airports and appropriate fee rates.

“We will need to have an inexpensive base in the airports. But this decision is up to the ministry. The minister (Kubrakov) asked if we will offer low rates and we said yes. Approximately 20% of seats will be sold at fares of EUR10, EUR14, EUR 19. This is one million passenger seats. We sell most of the tickets at EUR24, EUR29, EUR39. Now the only way to fill this number of seats is very low prices for air tickets”, – said the executive director of Ryanair.

He emphasized that Ukraine can have lower airfares than Poland, but must also ensure lower airport charges than in Poland.

As reported, Ryanair this week announced a commitment to resume flights to/from Ukraine at low fares within 8 weeks of the opening of Ukrainian airspace. The company plans to deploy up to 30 new Boeing 737 MAXs in Kiev, Lviv and Odessa at a cost of more than $3 billion. It was indicated that the airline is ready to operate up to 600 flights per week. In addition, Ryanair plans to open daily flights between Kiev, Lviv and Odessa as soon as the airports are ready for it.

It was noted that the airline plans to reach more than 5 million passenger seats per year in the first 12 months after the launch and intends to increase this number to 10 million passengers within five years.

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UKRAINE INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES NEEDS ONE MONTH TO COPE WITH ALL-HANDS WORK WITH PASSENGERS WHO LOST TICKETS

Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plans to start the usual mode of dialog with passengers in one month, UIA President Yevhen Dykhne has said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“I won’t tell you the exact number how many passenger requests have been handled right now. Since the termination of flights, we have about 27,000 requests pending response. And almost the same number arrived at UIA client communication platforms in the early days of this period,” he said.
According to Dykhne, the additional difficulty with handling passenger requests is that UIA is forced to quit the usual work through call centers under quarantine conditions.
“Most often, call centers are built on open space technology and work in them does not comply with quarantine conditions. Therefore, our own call center and the external call centers that serviced us were closed. We switched to e-mailing and messaging with passengers,” the president of UIA said.
A total of up to 150 people in the airline is involved in e-mailing and messaging with passengers. In one working day, this number ranges from 60 to 110, as such employees work remotely, while in the call center up to 600 employees of the airline worked simultaneously at the peak hours.
“Today, we handle up to 2,000 requests a day, but it’s still 90% less than it is being received. I think that we will need another month of work in order to get into the usual dialogue with passengers, not all-hands work, because mailing and messaging, of course, is a longer process than voice calls,” he said.

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