Infrastructure Minister Andrii Pyvovarskyi believes it is necessary to begin actively concluding bilateral agreements on the liberalization of air travel, and he has issued the relevant instructions to the State Aviation Service.
"Today, the State Aviation Service has been set the task of opening the skies between Ukraine and other countries at the level of bilateral agreements," the minister wrote.
According to him, there are currently about 70 bilateral agreements on air travel between Ukraine and other countries. At the same time, 11 of them do not contain any restrictions on the numbers of carriers, flights, and destinations.
"The State Aviation Service will ask countries to lift restrictions on a bilateral basis. I am asking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and [Foreign Affairs Minister] Pavlo Klimkin to join this process, and we will need the support of Ukrainian ambassadors abroad," Pyvovarskyi added.
"The objective is development of competition, and this will happen together with maximum liberalization of the market," said the minister.
He also reiterated that Ukraine is doing its utmost to ensure that the agreement on a Common Aviation Area with the European Union is signed as soon as possible, but there is a snag over the status of Gibraltar and resolution of this issue does not depend on Ukraine.
