Head Of State Aviation Service Exceeded His Authority - Official Investigation

An official investigation into the activities of the head of the State Aviation Service, Denys Antoniuk, has established that he committed a number of violations, including exceeding his authority. The Interfax Ukraine news agency reported this, citing the press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure.

According to the investigation act, a copy of which is available on the ministry's website, the State Aviation Service’s new order on the rules for assigning air routes, which caused a series of debates and disputes on the aviation market, does not promote development of competition and creates conditions for granting advantages to individual entities.

It is also established that the State Aviation Service’s commission on assignment of air routes committed violations.

According to the document, Antoniuk personally intervened in the work of the commission on 9 June. In addition, the management of the State Aviation Service exceeded its authority by sending to the Ukrainian Ministry of Transport and the Jordanian Foreign Affairs Ministry letters on assignment of the Kyiv-Amman route to Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) and illegally assigned the route to UIA.

The document also states that the State Aviation Service committed violations during certification of the companies Aerohandling and Transaerohandling. In addition, according to the document, violations were committed during the dismissals of the State Aviation Service’s departmental directors Serhii Korshuk and Viktor Marchuk.

As reported earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers decided on 4 September to dismiss Antoniuk as the head of the State Aviation Service. He became the head of the State Aviation Service in March 2014, but he was suspended from office for the final two months in connection with the official investigation.

Antoniuk was dismissed for violating the oath of a public servant in accordance with the order No. 882-r of 4 September. In late June, the Odessa region’s Governor Mikheil Saakashvili accused Antoniuk of bias during distribution of air routes and lobbying for the interests of UIA, his former employer. Antoniuk denied these accusations.