Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) transported "almost 7 million passengers" in 2017, which is 16.4% more than the number it transported in the previous year. According to the airline, 6.25 million passengers used its flights from/to the Boryspil international airport in 2017 (an 18% increase compared with 2016).
The proportion of transit passengers on regular UIA flights reached 54.1%, the proportion of domestic transit passengers increased by 16% to 543,400, and the proportion of international transit passengers increased by 22% to 2.68 million.
UIA performed 56,400 flights in 2017, which is 16.6% more than the number of flights it performed in 2016. The passenger load factor was 80%.
The airline launched new flights from Kyiv to Bergamo, Budapest, Krakow, and Kherson in 2017. In addition, UIA started operating flights from Zaporizhia to Tel Aviv and Batumi and from Chernivtsi to Bergamo.
In addition, UIA continued to increase the frequency of its flights to existing destinations in 2017. In particular, the airline increased the number of flights on its routes from Kyiv to Beijing, Colombo, Dusseldorf, Vilnius, Brussels, Madrid, Chernivtsi, and Ivano-Frankivsk, as well as from Ivano-Frankivsk to Alicante.
The volume of cargo and mail transported by the airline increased by 32.2% to 20,280 tons in 2017, thanks to the development of transit flights through the Boryspil international airport, among other things.
UIA added five Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft to its fleet in 2017, including two that arrived in Kyiv directly from the manufacturer's factory in Seattle. The airline also returned three classic-generation aircraft to the lessor. The airline now has a fleet of 42 aircraft with an average age of 10.9 years.
According to UIA, the airline also transported 3,304 passengers free of charge in 2017 under the "Under the Wing" program (which involves transportation of children in need of serious medical care and their escorts to clinics abroad).
"The past year was very difficult and simultaneously very interesting," UIA’s President Yurii Miroshnikov said. "During this period, we passed the 40 million mark, renewed our fleet, and offered travelers a new concept for low-cost prices, which allows them to purchase tickets at maximum benefit if they book early. This year, in implementation of our strategy, we will further develop the hub at the Boryspil international airport and introduce a Boeing 777 aircraft model that is new to Ukraine on our routes, which will make long-haul flights even more comfortable for our passengers. The goal of UIA remains unchanged: to become the leading network carrier in Eastern Europe."
UIA was founded in 1992. All the shares in the airline are privately owned (controlled by the entities owned by businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi). The carrier performs more than 1,100 regular flights per week and connects Ukraine with more than 80 cities and key destinations in Europe, Asia, America, Africa, and the Middle East. The airline’s base airport is the Boryspil international airport.
