A national low-cost carrier, the creation of which was announced in Ukraine in 2017, is doomed to fail, the president of Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA) Yuri Miroshnikov, told Ukrainian news portal CFTS on November 24.
“From a professional point of view, a full-fledged Ukrainian national air carrier is not possible, since two critically important conditions for its existence are absent,” Yuri Miroshnikov said. “It can be created, but it will soon die. First, you need access to large amounts of cheap money. Without this, it is impossible to reach cheap prices when buying aircraft, and without cheap aircraft it is impossible to build a low-cost model. And secondly, the low-cost carrier will not be successful without a mass market. Unfortunately, Ukraine is not such now.”
A few days earlier, the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelyan hinted that a Ukrainian budget airline can be registered next month.
“Wait for news in December. It should be good,” the Minister told Ukraine’s UNIAN news agency.
Back in May 2017, Omelian told that 2017 will see the birth of Ukrainian budget carrier operating domestic routes. The new low-cost carrier will be partly owned by foreign entities. In spring, the Minister stated that 51% of the shares must be owned by Ukraine. According to him, this would be necessary for the airline to have the right to operate flights inside the country.
“Negotiations are on their way. I hope that we will register the company this year, and possibly start domestic and international operations,” the Minister said. He also commented on his vision of pricing. Omelian hopes for prices to be in the $20-40 range.
Source – AeroTime
