In 2023, Ukrainian airline SkyUp Airlines increased the number of passengers carried by 24% compared to 2022, to 1.546 million.
According to the official website of SkyUp Airlines, the airline also operated 10,528 flights to 53 countries on 664 routes, which is 36% more than in 2022.
The largest number of flights were operated by SkyUp Airlines to/from Chisinau Airport – 2 thousand flights, Egypt – 1.685 thousand, Turkey – 1.219 thousand, Tunisia – 675 flights, Romania – 556 flights, the report says.
It is noted that in 2023, the airline cooperated under ACMI contracts with Tunisair, FlyOne, HiSky SRL, HiSky Europe SRL, Wizz Air Malta, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, Corendon Dutch, Tailwind Airlines, and FlyEgypt.
“After a turbulent 2022, 2023 was a year of stabilization for the airline. We significantly increased the volume of ACMI contracts and became one of the 20 most popular airlines in Europe. These results allowed us to retain a team of professionals, which is now actually the key to the future recovery of Ukrainian civil aviation,” SkyUp CEO Dmytro Seroukhov said in a statement.
He assured that in 2024, the airline will continue to strengthen its position in the ACMI and charter markets, and expressed hope for Ukraine’s soonest victory and the resumption of flights in Ukrainian airspace.
SkyUp reported that in 2023 it retained a team of 1,139 professionals and paid almost UAH 200 million in taxes to the state.
In November and December 2023, SkyUp Airlines took part in a highly complex operation to rescue Ukrainian citizens from the Gaza Strip. We managed to evacuate about 200 Ukrainians. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked SkyUp Airlines for its assistance in the evacuation of Ukrainians from the Gaza Strip, the statement said.
It is also said that SkyUp is working to improve processes and introduce modern technologies: in 2023, the company signed an agreement with IBS Software to implement solutions that will modernize distribution, increase revenues, and improve service systems.
In addition, the airline is implementing an aviation security risk management system from Osprey Flight Solutions. The airline has trained staff and launched the software, the statement said. It is noted that thanks to adapted data collection, forecasting capabilities, automatic alerts and prioritization, the Osprey system continuously monitors changes, instantly adjusts risk assessments and sends appropriate notifications for further decision-making on possible changes to routes and flight schedules.
In 2023, SkyUP entered the European market by founding SkyUp MT, which received an Air Operator Certificate (AOC), a Continuing Airworthiness Management Organization (CAMO) certificate, and an Air Operator License (AOL). The airline’s office is located in Malta, and its fleet currently includes two Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
In 2023, the airline received permission to operate in the United States of America – a foreign air carrier certificate FAR129. In addition, SkyUp can operate in Canada. The FAOC certificate allows the Ukrainian airline to provide ACMI services and operate charter flights from other countries to Canada.
SkyUp has been operating commercial flights under ACMI contracts since mid-April 2022. As of June 2023, according to the ACMI Contract Monitor report by ch-aviation, the carrier was ranked among the top 15 ACMI service providers and among the airlines with the largest ACMI contracts.
Ukrainian airline SkyUp Airlines evacuated its last plane from Boryspil airport to Iasi, Romania, profile publication avianews reported.
“I can only point out one thing – the flight was made in the interests of the state,” the company’s general director Dmitry Seroukhov confirmed to Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Wednesday.
According to Flightradar24 resource, on April 4, the pilots of Boeing 737-800 SkyUp with UR-SQP registration turned on the aircraft transmitter in the sky near Chernivtsi, the aircraft was en route from Boryspil airport to Iasi, Romania, where it landed at 20:06.
Avianews claims that at night during the full-scale invasion of Russia, pilots tried to evacuate the plane to Chisinau, but air traffic controllers ordered to return to the airport because the sky was closed to civil planes.
According to the profile publication, this is currently the third successful evacuation of passenger aircraft from airports in Ukraine since the large-scale Russian invasion: April 2, 2022 “Rosa Vetrov” evacuated from Lviv aircraft ATR-72, and September 13 also from Lviv could evacuate their Airbus A320 low-cost carrier Wizz Air.
In addition the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on the evacuation of two A400Ms from Boryspil by Turkey in December.
The former head of UIA Yevhen Dyhne reported that the airline had 12 planes “stuck” in Boryspil and another one in Odessa, while Wizz Air had three planes still remaining at Kiev (Zhulyany) airport.
SkyUp Airlines (Kiev) carried 2.3 times fewer passengers in 2022 than in 2021 – 1.08 million, due to the full-scale aggression of Russia and against Ukraine and the closure of the Ukrainian sky since February 24 last year, according to a message on the official website SkyUp.
According to it, after the start of the war, the company worked on a “wet lease” with 10 airlines, including Wizz Air, SmartWings, Freebird Airlines, Tailwind Airlines, Corendon Airlines, and in just one year it performed 7,713 flights to 204 airports worldwide on 627 routes.
It is specified that SkyUp aircrafts also performed charter flights for tour operators from Moldova and Baltic countries, in particular for affiliated tour operator Join UP!, as well as special flights for Hasidic pilgrims from Tel Aviv to Chisinau.
“Despite the temporary lack of ability to operate flights from/to Ukraine, significant changes in competitive conditions and operating conditions in new markets, we continue our operations and have not stopped since the beginning of the full-scale invasion,” the statement said.
SkyUp underlined that it managed to keep the fleet, as due to the tight flight schedule on February 24, 10 of 11 aircraft were abroad at the time of closure of the Ukrainian sky, and on August 16 the company added a new mid-range Boeing 737-800 with 189 passenger seats to the fleet, manufactured in 2011.
According to the release, SkyUp did not lay off any employees last year, and fewer than 10 percent of employees decided to leave the company for their own reasons, with another 53 employees serving in the Navy. 80% of the 1,200 employees remaining on SkyUp’s payroll were engaged at varying levels of workload, with “the majority of the team remaining in Ukraine,” the release said.
SkyUp also pointed out that it opened a line maintenance station for its own fleet in Antalya, Turkey, in the middle of last year. Similar line station operates in Tallinn. The company notes that it planned to develop the direction of maintenance of its own fleet and in Ukraine, registering in March 2021 organization Sky-Stream: at the time of the Russian invasion was equipped and prepared maintenance station at Boryspil airport. “However, the full-scale war forced to look for opportunities to work abroad,” SkyUp stated.
The company said that it has received certificates of compliance with TCO safety standards of Great Britain and Switzerland, which gives the right to operate flights to these countries and also ensure compliance with national regulations of the UAE CAA necessary to perform occasional passenger flights to these countries.
The company plans for 2023 is to strengthen its position in new markets and the development of wet leasing, as well as the implementation of charter flights for Ukrainian and foreign tour operators, the release said.
Skyap Airlines LLC was registered in Kiev in June 2016, and carried out its first flight in 2018. The founder is ACS-Ukraine LLC of Tatiana and Yuri Alba, who also own the tour operator JoinUp!
As reported, SkyUp airline in 2020 carried 1.25 million passengers (while performing 8.7 thousand flights), and in 2021 increased this figure to 2.5 million.
The Ukrainian airline SkyUp Airlines has received TCO (Third Country Operator) authorization from the UK aviation authorities.
As noted in the announcement of the airline, circulated on Wednesday evening, it confirms compliance with the United Kingdom’s requirements in aviation security and allows flights to this country. The authorization does not have a validity period, but it must be confirmed every 24 months.
“The need to obtain British TCO authorization is related to the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. If previously the European regulator’s [EASA] authorization was sufficient to carry out flights, then from the beginning of 2023 new documents from the aviation authorities of Great Britain are required,” the airline said.
To get authorization, the airline has provided detailed information on operations, fleet, flight history, internal manuals and data on operational procedures, flight safety management system, etc. The British side has also received confirmation from the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine regarding the authenticity of all the documents provided.
When all procedures were completed, SkyUp received a document certifying compliance with the requirements of the UK Part-TCO Regulations.
From now on, SkyUp can fly to the UK without additional permits.
Earlier this year SkyUp also received the TCO of Switzerland, after which the airline performed a number of flights to this country under the terms of a wet-lease.
SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) is planning to transport large volumes of cargo from China to Ukraine via Poland, Romania and Moldova, and is also developing a concept for transporting cargo from the United States, for which it is necessary to go through a special procedure for obtaining FAA permits.
According to the company’s website, the company is also in dialogue with Southern Airways Express (the USA) regarding the branding of their aircraft in the colors of the Ukrainian flag and is discussing the possibility of creating “sister airlines” that could attract SkyUp employees to work on an outsourcing basis.
According to the airline’s website, in March, SkyUp performed 21 evacuation flights on the Chisinau-Tel Aviv route and transported 2,835 refugees to Israel under the repatriation program, as well as their 124 pets.
Today, SkyUp is working on the possibility of performing evacuation flights to Portugal, Sweden and the UK under the Israel-Romania program.
In addition, SkyUp agreed with Suceava Airport (Romania) on the possibility of transporting cargo. This is the closest point to the border of Ukraine.
The company has now also confirmed shipments of humanitarian supplies from Portugal and Israel to Ukraine via Poland, including helmets and clothing for the army.
It is noted that during this time the company transported 112 tonnes of humanitarian cargo. The cargo included medicines, including insulin, baby food, personal hygiene and household chemicals, blankets, diapers, etc. The cargo was distributed according to its intended purpose: for the needs of Ukrainian refugees in Chisinau and various cities of Ukraine.
SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv), in cooperation with The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, operated 8 flights from Moldova to Israel from March 6 to March 17, which allowed 1,248 Ukrainians to evacuate to Israel under the repatriation program.
According to the company’s website, 83 pets went to Israel with the passengers.
SkyUp noted that in active cooperation with The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews the company will continue to organize evacuation flights. In particular, flights are already planned for another 1,500 Ukrainians.
“As a conscientious company, we understand that we must continue our operations for the good of the country – in order for Ukraine to have a bright future. I express my deep gratitude to The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, the Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Moldova, the esteemed Ambassador Mark Oleksandrovych Shevchenko and personally to Serhiy Mykhailovych Humeniuk, who worked tirelessly to help our compatriots, as well as all those thanks to whom these flights take place. We are honored that our company can become a kind of bridge between Ukrainians and friendly countries, where people can feel security,” SkyUp Airlines CEO Dmytro Seroukhov said.
