“Large Construction: Aviation and Tourism” forum took place at Boryspil International Airport
26 November 2021
Boryspil International Airport became a communication platform to discuss the future ofUkrainian aviation and tourism industries within the framework of the forum “LargeConstruction: Aviation and Tourism” which took place on November 25, 2021.
Forum launched with the welcoming speech of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy,regarding the important strategical goals of further development of the aviation industry, namely: thelaunch of the national air carrier, new modern aerodromes, transformation of Boryspil InternationalAirport into the Eastern European aviation hub, restoration of aviation construction industry and enhancement of partnership with the European Union. The Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmygaland the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov joined the event as well. During theday, the representatives of national and international businesses, executive, legislative authorities andstate enterprise representatives, bloggers and opinion leaders of aviation and tourism industries participated in the discussions.
Within the course of the Forum were also held panel discussions. In the panel themed to aviationinfrastructure, Director General of Boryspil International Airport Oleksiy Dubreskyy delivered aspeech, mentioning that even though the COVID-19 pandemic hit aviation the most, the Airport was able to adapt to the new conditions and reach the effective performance levels.
“It is clear that when the pandemic hit, airlines were caught in difficulties as well, because we form the joint aviation product. We, as the Airport, showed flexibility in cooperation with airlines after the strict lockdowns that allowed us not only to restore the air traffic, but to advance as well, which is confirmed by our performance indicators for the previous 9 months of 2021. Thus, the net profit of the Airport amounted to UAH 189 million, which is by 2,2 times more than planned and by 1,04 billion more than for the same period of the previous year”, mentioned Oleksiy Dubrevskyy.
In his speech, Mr. Dubrevskyy also noted that in the 3rd quarter of 2021 the Airport has fully covered the losses accumulated during the first half of this year. In total, for the 9 months of 2021, UAH 878 million was spent to settle the financial liabilities.
Moreover, in 2021, 4 parking lots were successfully returned into the Airport operation, taxi serviceswere facilitated and the concept of advertising within the Airport premises is now under review and amendment.
Director General had also informed that as of the date, 37 airlines operate flights to/from Boryspil Airport. In addition, during this year, 8 new air carriers were attracted, such as: Ryanair UK, AnadoluJet, Cyprus Airways, Flynas, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, ASL France (FedEx), Eurowings andUzbekistan Airways providing flights on 117 routes. Moreover, in 2021, 12 new destinations becameavailable for the Airport passengers, namely: Abu Dhabi, Ghazi Pasha, Jeddah, Riyadh, Cologne, Lisbon, Lodz, Madeira, Monastir, Tashkent, Lisbon, Lodz, Madeira, Monastir, Tashkent, Treviso, Chania.
Large focus is put on the development of the Airport infrastructure as this is the key success factor inimplementation of the hub development strategy providing European level service, so large investments are planned for this purpose in 2022, which is more than UAH 1,8 billion. “It is vital for us under the conditions of long-term COVID-19 pandemic, not only to preserve but also multiply the passenger flow and air transportation volumes over-performing the pre-pandemic levels, to continue and complete the already launched infrastructure projects”, emphasized Oleksiy Dubrevskyy.
He had also informed that the dynamics of the Airport development are positive and currently are as follows:
– cargo segment is stable;
– transfer decreased to 3%, as low cost and hybrid airlines already transport 40% of passengerson scheduled international flights;
– charter segment became the main driver of market rejuvenation: 3,3 million passengers for the 10 months of 2021, exceeding the results of 2019.
Thus, the most part of charter flights is provided by four carriers: Azur Air, UIA, SkyUp, Windrose. So we notice the reallocation of the passenger flow from transfer to point-to-point transportation,from classic to low-cost carriers.
Domestic passenger transportation market is also gradually restoring: from the beginning of the year 468 thousand passengers were serviced on domestic flights, which amounts to 51% comparing to pre-pandemic volumes.
An additional driver for the development may be the liberalization of market after the ratification of Open Skies Agreement between Ukraine and EU.
However, according to Mr. Dubrevskyy, restoration of the world aviation under the conditions of pandemic will not be swift. Due to the numerous limitations on the international aviation market introduced by the states, due to the slow restoration of business travels segment and impossibility of long-term planning as the result of unpredictability of the pandemic. The abovementioned factors led to the structural changes on the market and now the major part of transportation is concentrated within Europe, the long-haul segment was hit the most.
Summing up the speech, Oleksiy Dubrevskyy stated: “We are convinced that the key vector forthe aviation industry development is the comprehensive modernization of the transportinfrastructure, which will enhance the competitiveness of Boryspil Airport and transform it into the effective European hub”.
