The Zhytomyr regional airport intends to obtain the status of an international airport. Oleksii Yanchuk, the owner of the Yanair airline, who is an investor in the airport, announced this plan in Zhytomyr on Friday, 29 January, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports.
"From now on, we will use the airport as a maintenance base and simultaneously develop it. As it develops, we intend to appeal to the government to grant it the status of an international airport," he said.
According to Yanchuk, charter flights to vacation spots could already be performed from the airport in the summer if everything goes according to plan. He did not disclose the amount of investment in development of the airport, but, according to him, "a lot has already been invested and a lot still has to be invested."
In turn, Zhytomyr’s Mayor Serhii Sukhomlin said that Yanair paid UAH 1.5 million into the city budget last year and that development of the airport could create about 400 jobs.
The Zhytomyr airport received the first flight after 25 years of idling on 29 January, when a Saab 340 aircraft operated by the Yanair airlines landed at the airport. According to the airport’s Director Serhii Budiak, the airport is capable of receiving aircraft of the type An-24 and Saab 340. The Yanair airline intends to create a maintenance base for its aircraft in Zhytomyr.
