Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) will be granted the right to operate flights on the Kyiv-Amman (Jordan)-Kyiv route seven times per week until 20 October 2065. The State Aviation Service’s commission on the right to operate airlines made the relevant decision on 29 October and recommended that the head of the State Aviation Service approve the decision.
In addition, according to information from the State Aviation Service, UIA’s is to be granted the right to fly on the Kyiv-Aktau (Kazakhstan)-Kyiv route twice per week, as well as on the Kharkiv-Kutaisi (Georgia)-Kharkiv route twice per week. If approved by the head of the State Aviation Service, UIA’s right to operate on these routes will also be valid until 20 October 2065.
However, UIA was denied permission to fly on the Kyiv-Beirut (Lebanon)-Kyiv route on the basis of Paragraph 1, Section 8 of Article 94 of the Air Code of Ukraine.
At the same meeting, the commission considered several air carriers applications to operate on foreign routes, but none of them received permissions for such a long period as UIA.
As reported, a conflict broke out over the Kyiv-Amman route in summer this year, and this was one of the most controversial episodes in the operations of the State Aviation Service under the chairmanship of Denys Antoniuk. Two airlines – UM Air on the Ukrainian side and Royal Jordanian Airlines on the Jordanian side – operated on this route. The State Aviation Service planned to authorize UIA to operate flights on this route. On 9 June, the UM Air airline’s Chairman Rodrigue Merhej asked the commission to postpone consideration of UIA’s application for the Kyiv-Amman route because the regulation stipulates that it is necessary to officially inform the other carriers flying on the route. The commission voted to postpone consideration of the application.
However, it emerged on 16 June that Ukraine International Airlines would operate flights on this route. The State Aviation Service’s head Antoniuk told the Interfax Ukraine news agency that the Kyiv-Amman route was assigned to Ukraine International Airlines indefinitely a few years ago and that the airline therefore had the right to operate flights on the route. He added that UIA’s new application concerned only renewal of the assignment.
In September, after the dismissal of Antoniuk, the press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure said that an official investigation into the activities of the State Aviation Service established that Antoniuk personally intervened in the work of the commission on 9 June. In addition, it said that the management of the State Aviation Service exceeded its authority by sending to the Ukrainian Ministry of Transport and the Jordanian Foreign Affairs Ministry letters on assignment of the Kyiv-Amman route to Ukraine International Airlines and illegally assigned the route to Ukraine International Airlines.
