Turkish Airlines has canceled Istanbul - Ivano-Frankivsk flights for at least the next few days due to restrictions at the Ukrainian airport, of which the airline was notified on Wednesday, April 27, the avianews.com publication reports.
Information from the airport states that this is connected with repair of a runway, which may last two months.
According to the report, the airport informed the airline in a letter that a commission examined the runway and found cracks and flaking of its concrete surface.
Based on an act filed by the commission, the runway can handle no more than 10 operations per day, and the total weight of each aircraft must not exceed 50 tons until the repair is completed.
These restrictions make commercial use of airliners of the type Airbus A319, which the Turkish Airlines uses to perform flights between Ivano-Frankivsk and Istanbul, impossible, an informed source told the publication.
As reported, the airline launched daily flights to Ivano-Frankivsk on 30 March. Earlier, Turkish Airlines was forced to stop flights between Istanbul and Dnepropetrovsk because the Ukrainian airport refused to handle the flights. Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelian described the situation as a commercial conflict between the companies and said that there were no grounds for the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Transport to interfere.
The Galtera company controls the Dnipropetrovsk airport through Dniproavia. The Scorzonera limited liability company operates the Ivano-Frankivsk airport as a concession. The media link both Galtera and Scorzonera to businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi, who is also a co-owner of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA).
