Insurers identified first airport in Ukraine to be opened
Lviv airport may open in 2025 (Getty Images)
War-torn Ukraine could reopen the first airport in Lviv next year, with plans to resume air travel that has been grounded across the country since Russia's invasion in 2022, according to Crispin Ellison, senior partner at insurance broker Marsh McLennan, during an interview with Reuters.
Kyiv has been negotiating for nearly a year with European aviation authorities and airlines to restart parts of its air travel network, Ellison said.
“If regulators agree it is safe to open it and a political decision is made, the insurance industry is ready to support the recovery efforts,” Ellison said, pointing to 2025 as a potential timeline.
In written comments, Ukraine’s State Aviation Service said it is exploring a phased and limited reopening of airspace for civilian aviation, contingent on risk assessment, mitigation to an acceptable level, and the implementation of additional security measures. However, the agency did not specify any timeframe for this development.
Ensuring flight safety
Ensuring airspace safety remains the primary challenge. “There has been a lot of work around this challenge,” Ellison said, although he refrained from providing further details.
The Lviv region, bordering Poland, has been less frequently targeted by Russian strikes compared to other parts of Ukraine. Nevertheless, Russian forces have attacked its gas infrastructure and launched drone and missile strikes against the area.
The Danylo Halytskyi International Airport in Lviv, equipped with two terminals, had the capacity to handle up to 3,000 passengers per hour before the war.
Ellison also mentioned that Marsh McLennan is assisting the Ukrainian government in establishing an insurance fund to cover commercial aviation. The broker already manages an insurance program for ships carrying cargo through Ukraine’s Black Sea corridor.
The aviation sector is actively involved in discussions. “National carriers, low-cost and Ukrainian airlines (are) all expressing an interest and looking at whether they do this,” Ellison said.
While reopening Lviv’s airport is a promising development, Ukrainian authorities are also pushing to reopen the country’s primary airport near Kyiv. However, Ellison said that the aviation market is waiting “until confidence has been gained that this can happen in a much lower-risk scenario.”
Russia's continued strikes
Moscow has regularly carried out missile and drone strikes across Ukraine throughout over two and a half years of fighting. Kyiv and surrounding areas remain frequent targets of these long-range attacks.
Ellison previously suggested that Lviv Airport could reopen as early as January 2025, though Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly prefers to prioritize reopening Kyiv’s Boryspil International Airport.
