A Turkish airline company may create a subsidiary in Ukraine to operate domestic flights in the country. Infrastructure Minister Vladimir Omelian announced this at a meeting with business representatives at the European Business Association on Tuesday, 31 January.
"We are currently working with a Turkish airline that wants to open a representative office in Ukraine and launch a subsidiary for regional transportation in Ukraine," the minister said, but he did not name the airline company.
In a recent interview with the Forbes publication, Omelian announced that negotiations were being held with an air carrier that could bring 5-7 aircraft to Ukraine. "In February, I will hold talks with a potential foreign investor that is theoretically ready to create a company with a fleet of 5-7 airplanes in Ukraine with the aim of launching regular domestic flights," said the minister.
There are currently more than 10 airlines in Turkey, of which four (Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airlines, Onur Air, and AtlasGlobal) operate flights to Ukraine. AtlasGlobal created a Ukrainian subsidiary called Atlasjet Ukraine in 2014 and later renamed it AtlasGlobal Ukraine. This airline operated a test flight from Kyiv to Lviv in summer 2015. AtlasGlobal Ukraine later had problems obtaining permits for new flights and destinations. Consequently, the carrier focused on operating regular and charter flights from Ukraine (Kharkiv, Lviv, and Zaporizhia) to Turkey.
