Oleksiy Dubrevskyy, Director General of Boryspil International Airport: European aircarriers are ready to rapid resumption of flights after the war ending

11 May 2023

On May 9 -11, 2023, Routes Europe 2023, an international aviation conference takes place in Lodz, Poland. Experts of Boryspil International Airport led by Oleksiy Dubrevskyy, its Director General, took part in this conference. Within the framework of the forum Oleksiy Dubrevskyy held a number of meetings and talks with European air carriers that historically flew to Boryspil airport as well as the possible new partners, who are still scrutinizing the potential of the Ukrainian air transportation market.

In particular, meetings were held with Olivier Jankovec, ACI Europe CEO, Raphael Schwartzman, IATA Vice President, and representatives of 15 leading European airlines. The main focus of the talks hereinabove, was the issue of air carriers involvement to resume air traffic to Ukraine after the war.

Oleksiy Dubrevsky considers that international air carriers see potential of Ukraine and want to be ready to resume flights as soon as it becomes possible for safety reasons.

“We see great demand among European air carriers for flights to Ukraine. At the forum, I was clearly convinced of the seriousness of the intentions of Europeans to resume flights as soon as possible, so I informed about the possibilities of the Ukrainian aviation market after the war. Firstly, it is the return of Ukrainian refugees home – the basis of the low-cost segment, cargo transportation – in particular, more than 80% of air cargo was handled at Boryspil airport, growth in demand for charter flights, inbound tourism due to the interest of foreigners in Ukraine, possible liberalization of the market with the European Union and common aviation space in future”.

Director General of Boryspil International Airport spoke about the state of the Ukrainian aviation industry, which was the first and most affected by Russian aggression, and shared his practical experience of personnel saving and the airport operation provision in the wartime.

“I want to assure you that the heart of the civil aviation of Ukraine is still beating, as well as the heart of Boryspil airport is beating, ” Oleksiy Dubrevsky addressed the participants of the forum.- Since the first weeks of the war, we realized that we would have to live in this state for a long time. That is why all our activity was aimed at airport operation providing and saving during the war time. Currently, the airport infrastructure is operable, the operational capacity of the terminals and the airfield is maintained, and highly skilled personnel are constantly trained and refresher trained. We are doing everything possible to make that Boryspil airport resume its operation in a short period of time and start passenger handling and aircraft maintenance as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Oleksiy Dubrevsky stressed out that after the victory, the role of Boryspil International Airport in the revival of the Ukrainian economy will become even more significant. It is high time, according to him, to coordinate new agreements with partners, full- service airlines as well as low-cost airlines, since it is the latter that will be the first to fly from Ukraine, and respectively, will be key carriers after the war

“We are constantly in touch with all our partners, as after the victory we will have to work very hard to restore the aviation industry. Both Ukrainian and European aviation will have to overcome many challenges together. In order to resume air connections between Europe and Ukraine in a relatively short period of time, cooperation, consolidated support and joint efforts of experts in the aviation industry are urgent,” stressed out Oleksiy Dubrevskyy, CEO of Boryspil International Airport.

Oleksiy Dubrevskyу, Director General, Boryspil International Airport and representatives of airport with Olivier Jankovec, ACI Europe CEO at the Routes Europe 2023 International Aviation Conference in Lodz

Routes Europe 2023 is the largest forum for development of air routes in Europe and an important platform for discussion of trends at the air transport market, within which the airport and lots of airlines CEOs have the opportunity to meet each other and to talk over issues regarding new flight launching and the development of new air roots. The international aviation conference Routes Europe 2023 will be attended by about 1,300 guests, including CEOs and representatives of 100 airlines, 300 airports and many tourist agencies. This forum gives Ukraine and Ukrainian airports the opportunity to remain on the radar of airlines, carriers and partners.