The Ukrainian government is making efforts to possibly resume flights from Kyiv and Lviv, with a focus on reopening the Boryspil airport in Kyiv.
Rostyslav Shurma, the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, announced this in Davos (Switzerland), the CFTS portal reports, citing the Interfax Ukraine news agency.
"I can say that we are working very intensively on the resumption of air traffic in Ukraine... We will definitely do everything possible to achieve this," he said.
Asked whether the option of opening airports in Kyiv and Lviv was being considered, Shurma said both airports were being considered but added that the "main focus" is on the Boryspil airport.
Commenting on the possibility of resuming flights in the summer of 2024, the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine said: "I do not want to give specific dates… Perhaps I would be ready to make a public commitment if it depended on us alone, but I think that the share of our homework here does not exceed 20%." According to him, the possibility of resuming flights in Ukraine depends on the decisions of Ukraine’s international partners, independent regulators (particularly the European aviation regulator, IATA), and insurance companies. In addition, he said that the success of such a decision would depend, among other things, on Ukraine's ability to ensure the physical safety of flights.
"Our team and the military are working closely with our Israeli counterparts to learn from their experience. We are absolutely confident that we will succeed," Shurma said.
"We are facing the same task: to create the right risk tools to ensure that airlines can fly to Kyiv, which we plan to open," he said.
As reported earlier, the Boryspil airport signed a Memorandum with AECOM, an American infrastructure consulting company, in November 2023. The document provides for the reconstruction and modernization of the airport’s infrastructure.
A delegation from the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair visited the airport last July. " The hard work has begun: we are discussing in detail the partnership between Ryanair and Boryspil airport regarding the airline's declared strategic plan for the rapid resumption of flights immediately after Ukraine's victory and the confirmation of flight safety in the Ukrainian skies by EASA," the Boryspil airport's press service said in a statement on the visit.
