Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) has called on the European Commission to accelerate the signing of an agreement on a Common Aviation Area with Ukraine, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports.

"As a leading Ukrainian company that is actively developing the model of a transit carrier between the West and the East and the North and the South, UIA is very interested in speedy liberalization of the air transport market between the European Union and Ukraine. Therefore, on our part, UIA has requested that the European Commission facilitate the signing of the agreement as soon as possible," UIA said in a press release.

According to him, UIA sent an official letter to the European Commission’s President Jean-Claude Juncker on 17 July 2015, in which it appealed to the commission over an issue of paramount importance to Ukraine, Ukrainian air carriers, and passengers.

"As the Ukrainian flagship carrier and a member of the IATA and the Association of European Airlines, UIA is extremely concerned that the agreement on Common Aviation Area between Ukraine and the European Union has still not been signed. As of today, the only obstacle to signing the document by the European Union is the designation of Gibraltar and there are no obstacles to it on the part of Ukraine," UIA said in the letter.

According to UIA, the agreement will facilitate improvement of the aviation legislation and aviation standards in Ukraine, open up new market opportunities, economically benefit both sides, eliminate the remaining restrictions on air traffic between Ukraine and European Union, and provide a powerful impetus to development of free and fair competition.

In addition, UIA said that it was critical to accelerate and intensify the work on liberalization of air links between Ukraine and countries located to the East. According to UIA, this will improve Ukraine’s transit capabilities.

Founded in 1992, UIA is the largest airline company in Ukraine. It is based at the Boryspil airport (Kiev). It has a fleet of 31 aircraft: 27 medium-haul and four long-haul aircraft.