JSC Zaporizhia Automobile Building Plant (ZAZ) in January-May of this year produced 1,742 passenger cars, while in the same period of 2020 – none, according to the statistics of the Ukrautoprom association.
At the same time, the plant produced 417 passenger cars in May, compared to 472 passenger cars in April this year.
The plant also produced 39 buses over the five months versus 13 buses a year earlier.
According to the statistics of the association, the second Ukrainian manufacturer of passenger cars, the Eurocar plant (Zakarpattia region), in January-May produced 1,796 Skoda passenger cars using the SKD assembly method, which is 35.5% more than in the same period last year, including 527 cars produced in May (6 times more than in May 2020).
As reported, taking into account these production indicators of the two plants, the production of passenger cars in Ukraine in January-May increased 2.7-fold, to 3,538 cars.
ZAZ is a leading automobile manufacturing plant with the capacity for full-scale production of automobiles. The plant is part of the Ukrainian Automobile Corporation (UkrAVTO), owned by Tariel Vasadze.
The corporation’s brand portfolio includes passenger cars Chery, Lada, Chevrolet, Kia, Renault, as well as Mercedes, Jeep, Maserati, and buses of several classes.
JSC Zaporizhia Automobile Building Plant (ZAZ) intends to produce 10,000 cars in 2021 after resuming their production last year, said head of Zaporizhia Regional State Administration Oleksandr Starukh.
“The enterprise suspended its production, now it has been resumed, and everything is started small … We signed an agreement with Renault – this year we will have 10,000 cars,” Starukh said during the UkraineInvest Talks: Dnipro forum on Thursday.
According to him, in the first quarter of this year, ZAZ also sold 50 buses to Poland.
As reported, in 2018, ZAZ, due to economic inexpediency and in the absence of state programs to stimulate the automotive industry, stopped the production of passenger cars, the production of which was the leader in the country for many years. But in September 2020, Groupe Renault officially announced the start of production of passenger cars for the local market.
On the occasion of its first flight to Ukraine 30 years ago, the Austrian Airlines announced the launch of flights from Vienna to Zaporizhia from May 17 with a frequency of three times a week (round trip).
The press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine said on Thursday that during the summer the company plans to increase the number of flights to daily.
It is noted that the flights will be operated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from Vienna to Zaporizhia at 10:35 local time, and from Zaporizhia at 14:30.
At the same time, the airline will no longer offer the Vienna – Dnipro route due to its proximity to Zaporizhia.
“The development of regional airports and aviation remains our priority for the coming years. Over time, the pre-quarantined air traffic will recover, and we are preparing our airfields for active work. I am glad that one of the leading European airlines, Austrian Airlines, which is part of the Lufthansa concern, is opening a new flight in Zaporizhia. Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa are already included in the program. I am grateful to the local authorities of Zaporizhia and the airport management for the well-coordinated and fruitful work, and I wish the pilots and future passengers a cloudless sky and successful flights,” the press service quoted Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy as saying.
There are currently no direct flights on the Vienna – Zaporizhia – Vienna route.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) may provide Zaporizhia with a $55 million long-term loan to finance a package of initiatives aimed at improving energy efficiency, infrastructure development and transport logistics.
The board of directors plans to consider this project on February 15, 2021, the bank said on its website.
IFC plans to provide Zaporizhia with up to EUR 36.7 million of a loan from its own funds and to organize another EUR 18.3 million through the Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program (MCPP).
It is assumed that the funds will be used for the installation of an intelligent traffic control system, street lighting and modernization of control centers, the purchase of electric buses, trolleybuses and related infrastructure, (reconstruction of traction equipment, substations, the purchase of road construction and cleaning equipment, as well as the reconstruction of roads and the development of public parks.
In addition, IFC will help develop a Smart City 2.0 strategy for Zaporizhia
SkyUp (Kyiv) is planning to launch flights from Zaporizhia to Batumi (Georgia), Larnaca (Cyprus) and Prague (Czech Republic) at the end of spring to summer 2021.
The company’s press service said on Monday that tickets are available for purchase on the SkyUp website.
The airline also said that it has extended for the winter season flights on the Kyiv-Zaporizhia-Kyiv route, which it started operating from the new airport terminal on October 19.
“Government support for such important infrastructure projects that make passengers’ vacation more comfortable, also opens wide opportunities for increasing destinations, flight frequencies and potentially setting lower fares. We are grateful to the city and airport authorities for the honor of the first Ukrainian low-cost airline to operate the first flight,” the airline’s press service said, citing SkyUp CEO Dmytro Seroukhov.
As reported, the new terminal of Zaporizhia international airport started accommodating internal flights on October 19.
The Hungarian low cost airline Wizz Air intends in August 2020 to launch a flight from Dortmund (Germany) to Zaporizhia, due to the opening of an air carrier base in Dortmund. According to Wizz Air’s press service, flights will start on August 2 and will be operated on Wednesdays and Sundays. Ticket price is from UAH 729.
In addition, the airline launches flights from Dortmund to Alghero, Bari, Catania, Naples, Athens, Corfu, Heraklion, Rhodes, Santorini, Thessaloniki, Fuerteventura, Lisbon, Marrakesh, Podgorica, Reykjavik, and Suceava.
