Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) has confirmed that Yurii Miroshnikov, who has been at the airline since 1993 and has managed it for 15 years, leaves the post of president of the airline on September 12 because of expiration of his contract and that Yevhen Dykhne will become the head of the airline on September 18, 2019.

The airline announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.

According to the statement, the key task of the airline’s new president will be to return it to profit and ensure steady and balanced development of its network business model.

Miroshnikov was elected as a member of the airline’s supervisory board at a general meeting of shareholders. He took up his new position on September 13.

“I am sure that with my knowledge and experience I can add value to the airline’s business in my new position by helping the management team to formulate a long-term development strategy and make complex managerial decisions,” Miroshnikov said.

Dykhne, 55, was born in Chernivtsi.

He headed the state-owned Lviv Airlines from 2007 to 2008. The airline stopped flying in 2009 and went bankrupt in 2011.

He was the deputy head of the passenger department at the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) from 2009 to 2013. He was Ukrzaliznytsia’s director of passenger transportation from 2013 to 2014.

He was the acting general director of the Boryspil airport from September 2014 to March 2017 and the first deputy general director of the airport from March 2017.

UIA was founded in 1992. All the airline’s shares are privately owned. The carrier has a fleet of 42 aircraft with an average age of 11.6 years.