The Atlasjet Ukraine airline (Lvov) has protested to the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure over the District Administrative Court of Kyiv’s decision that temporarily bans the airline from operating international flights based on a lawsuit filed by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). This was announced by Atlasjet Ukraine’s General Director Serhii Pidhorodetskyi, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports.
"We have contacted lawyers, they are working on this issue, and this lawsuit will be challenged. We filed a statement on 22 August," Pidhorodetskyi said.
"This is a complete monopoly and an unwillingness to let in another carrier, especially since it was the Ministry of Infrastructure that reduced their (UIA’s), number (of flights) perfectly legitimately, given the fact that they did not operate to these destinations. There are regulations, and they were supposed to meet the deadlines set by law. These are the operating principles of the ‘old guard,’ which is used to jostling on the market of civil aviation via the old methods. We are asserting our rights in accordance with the legislation that allocated these destinations to us," said the head of the airline.
Pidhorodetskyi also said that Atlasjet Ukraine has submitted the relevant statement to the Ministry of Infrastructure, and it is working with the State Aviation Service of Ukraine. "We have a case of complete disregard for the guidelines and regulations by the State Aviation Service. They were supposed to give us permission to fly within five days after the issuance of the order and we were supposed to ask for slots, but they extended the deadline for us in violation of all the rules in order to give UIA time to file a lawsuit. The State Aviation Service adopted a position that clearly protects the interests of this commercial entity," said Pidhorodetskyi.
According to him, the company will enter the market in possession of international and domestic destinations in any case. "Firstly, where they are pushing us - performance of only domestic flights - is unlawful because we are certified and meet all the requirements for performance of international flights. Secondly, there are no arguments to somehow justify refusing us. We have a very clear financial position, we are fully equipped to operate flights, and we have officially registered our investment with the National Bank of Ukraine," Pidhorodetskyi said.
According to the Capital newspaper, UIA is demanding in its lawsuit return of its right to perform 16 flights per week on the Kiev-Istanbul (Turkey) route and seven weekly flights on the Odessa-Tel Aviv route because the Ministry of Infrastructure issued an order reducing the number of flights that UIA can perform to these destinations to 14 (Kiev-Istanbul) and five (Odessa-Tel-Aviv) in July. The vacated slots were given to Atlasjet Ukraine.
According to the publication, UIA has also applied for slots at the Istanbul airport for performance of 16 flights per week from the coming winter period (from October 2014) and begun negotiations with the Israeli agency for sale of air transport services, Caspi Aviation, for the Odessa-Tel Aviv (seven flights per week).
UIA is also asking the court to cancel Atlasjet Ukraine’s permits for all international flights because it believes that the flight permits were granted in violation of Ukrainian legislation.
Atlasjet Ukraine was founded in September 2013. Its founders are the Atlasjet company (Turkey), AIS Group Ukraine (Lvov), and the individuals Volodymyr Kuzmyi, Maria Rozhkova, and Serhii Podhorodetskyi (the head of the company).
Atlasjet Ukraine planned to begin flights to/from Ukraine on September 15, 2014: domestic flights from Kiev to Lvov and Odessa, international flights from Kiev, Lvov, Kharkov, and Odessa to Istanbul, as well as Odessa-Tel Aviv flights.
