Following the meeting in Brussels – Oleksiy Dubrevskyy: the initiated reduction of airport fees for flights to Ukraine to make air travel more affordable for Ukrainians

15 September 2023

On September 14, 2023, organized by the International Council of Airports – ACI Europe a large-scale meeting was held in Brussels between heads of Ukrainian airports and European institutions.

The key topic of the meeting was to identify ways to solve the challenges and needs faced by the Ukrainian aviation industry, immediate and long-term plans for relaunching operations, as well as financing and investments for reconstruction.

At the first stage of the discussion, the Director General of Boryspil International Airport took the floor about the current challenges and needs of airports. He provided  comprehensive analytics  of the current state of Ukrainian airports. During the discussion, the leaders of the Ukrainian airports Kyiv-Zhulyany, Lviv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkіv also spoke about the situation in the airports subordinate to them.

The main topic of the meeting was the definition of a mechanism for interaction and establishment of effective cooperation between Ukrainian airports and international aviation institutions to maintain the operational readiness of the airports for a quick operation relaunch, when the security situation will enable restart passenger air traffic.

Moreover, Boryspil International Airport has been supporting the airport infrastructure during wartime in Ukraine, retaining and training its staff, continuously validating certificates and licenses.

” We continue to keep 82% of our highly skilled employees in a forced standstill and pay them 2/3 of their salaries during martial law. This is financed from the company’s profit earned in the second half of 2021. In addition, we constantly train our specialists and maintain the airport infrastructure operational. This is a huge set of measures that also requires proper funding. However, the financial resources of the Boryspil airport are not limitless,” Oleksiy Dubrevskyy, Director General of Boryspil airport noted.

To create an effective cooperation plan, leaders of the Ukrainian aviation industry briefed their European partners on their airports state, the necessary funding to ensure operational readiness, restoration of damaged infrastructure, and the possibilities for implementing infrastructure projects in future. Indeed, despite the fact that airports do not handling flights now, the Ukrainian market remains one of the most attractive in Europe. For example, in 2016-2019 the number of passengers handled doubled, given that Ukrainians on average fly half as often as in Poland. Our market is still far from saturation, and thus creates opportunities for investment, particularly, in airport infrastructure.

“It is difficult to exaggerate the role of airports for the national economy. We have to find solutions to ensure the mobility of the population, the accessibility of our country and exports support. Operating Ukrainian airports provide more than 200 thousand jobs and generate 2.6 billion euros of GDP. And after the end of the war, the role of aviation will become even more significant for the return of refugees home and the restoration of the country “, noted Oleksiy Dubrevskyy, the General Director of the International Airport Boryspil.

In his speech, Olivier Jankovec, Director General of the International Council of Airports ACI Europe, supported Ukrainian airports and noted that: “For its part, ACI EUROPE will urge its 550 airport members to consider the possibility to temporarily reduce airport fees imposed to users for flights departing to/from Ukraine. Such step is aimed at maintaining and accelerating the launch of passenger traffic, which will be so important when the war ends and refugees can return home. Of course, this will require flexibility and support from national regulators in some countries.

He also added that in the long term, the role of the EU and international financial institutions will be essential for the development of Ukrainian airports as for capacity, digitalization and environmental aspects, as well as their effective integration into the EU Trans-European Network. ”

As a result of the negotiations, several fields for cooperation with European aviation authorities and international financial organizations were developed. In case of a discount application on airport charges for flights to/from Ukraine for three years – that is, for the recovery period after the war – first of all this will be a support for airlines, which will directly affect the cost of tickets. Thus, flights will be more available to passengers. In addition, the airport management appealed to the European Commission to reduce or cancel additional taxes that some countries apply to air travels.