Ukrainian Airlines Increase Passenger Transportation By 11.3% In First Quarter

Ukrainian airlines increased passenger transportation by 11.3% to 1.258 million in the period of January-March 2016, compared with the corresponding period of 2015. The Interfax Ukraine news agency reported this, citing the State Aviation Administration.

The 26 Ukrainian airlines that operated on the passenger and cargo transportation market performed a combined 14,700 commercial flights in the period of January-March 2016. Last year, 14 Ukrainian airlines transported passengers.

"The positive dynamics that was recorded during this period is due to a 32.2% increase in passenger transport volumes by UIA. Azur Air Ukraine also increased passenger transportation by 25.1%, UM Air by 22.2%, and Yanair 13-fold," the State Aviation Administration said in a statement.

Eight Ukrainian airlines performed regular flights to 34 countries in the period of January-March 2016 (870,000 passengers, a 5.6% increase compared with the first quarter of 2015) and 25 foreign airlines performed flights from 23 countries (776,000 passengers, a 0.5% increase).

Three Ukrainian airlines performed regular domestic flights between eight Ukrainian cities, transporting 155,000 passengers.

Sixteen Ukrainian airlines transported cargo and mail during the reporting period, with Antonov, UIA, Maximus Airlines, ZetAvia, Europe Air, and Urga accounting for 81% of the total volume. A large proportion of these were charter flights to other countries under UN programs, as well as under contracts with other customers.

Eighteen Ukrainian airports handled commercial flights by Ukrainian and foreign airlines. According to statistics, the number of aircraft that departed or arrived during the course of the year was 25,300. The volume of passenger transported through Ukrainian airports increased by 9% to 2.187 million while the volume of mail transported through them increased by 18.9% to 8,800 tons. 

Passenger traffic through the country's main airport, the Boryspil airport, increased by 12.2%the Zaporizhia airport 3.3-fold, the Kherson airport by 69.5%, the Kharkiv airport by 68%, and the Lviv airport by 11.8%. Passenger traffic reduced by 8.8% at the Dnipropetrovsk airport, 27.7% at the Kyiv airport, and 1.3% at the Odesa airport.