Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) has said that it will be extremely difficult for the aviation industry to cope with the challenges of time without government support.

"External factors, their scope and strength are such that the inner strengths of the company and its shareholders are not sufficient to counteract them," UIA’s President Yurii Miroshnikov told reporters during the Business Wisdom Summit on Friday, the CFTS reports.

According to Miroshnikov, UIA is the backbone of Ukraine’s air transport industry and its departure from the market will lead to the collapse of the entire system. "Therefore, it would be absolutely irresponsible not to make the government aware of this. If we are the backbone of this system, then we should interact very closely with the authorities at this difficult time," he said.

However, according to the president of UIA, the company has the feeling that the government is not fully aware of the seriousness of what is happening and does not understand how some decisions made by the National Bank and the Ministry of Infrastructure are aggravating the situation.

In addition, Miroshnikov does not consider his company’s appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers shameful. "We wrote our letter a week earlier than two Russian airlines appealed to their own government. One of them said that its request was prompted by the need to incur additional costs by bypassing the territory of Ukraine, and we have to bypass the territory of Russia and we are unable to fly to the Crimea and eastern Ukraine," said Miroshnikov.

The head of UIA is hoping that the government will consider the company’s request carefully and enter into constructive dialogue. "I know that the letter received the relevant resolutions during internal consideration in the Cabinet of Ministers, and I assume that a reaction will follow very soon," Miroshnikov concluded.

UIA recently asked the government for a stabilization loan of USD 100 million.