Ukrainian airports opening during war: Roadmap presented
Photo: Airspace opening is being discussed by Ukraine and airlines (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukraine presented a roadmap for opening its airspace under martial law, according to the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine.
The event brought together about a hundred representatives of the aviation industry - specialized regulators of the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the management of Ukrainian and foreign airlines that previously flew to Ukraine, insurance and leasing companies, and aircraft manufacturers.
Oleksii Kuleba, Minister of Communities and Territorial Development, emphasized that the opening of the airspace is a very complex issue both in terms of safety and in terms of interaction with all parties involved.
“This is the first expert discussion that we expect will help us move forward in creating the conditions for opening the airspace. During the war, our strategic objective is to preserve aviation infrastructure and qualified personnel so that when the time comes, we can resume civilian flights as quickly as possible,” he says.
Mary Elizabeth Madden, Economic Counselor at the US Embassy in Ukraine, emphasized the importance of supporting Ukraine in its efforts to restore civil aviation and the readiness of the United States to provide expert and technical assistance.
Ukraine's plan
During the conference, Deputy Minister Serhii Derkach presented a step-by-step plan and needs for partial reopening of airspace.
A risk assessment for civil aviation was prepared by the State Aviation Service of Ukraine, and the document was presented by its first deputy chairman, Serhii Korshuk. Andrii Yarmak, Director of UkSATSE, reported on the specifics of ensuring air navigation safety and the readiness of the air navigation system.
In addition, Oleksii Dubrevskyi, CEO of Boryspil International Airport, and Tetiana Romanovska, CEO of Lviv Danylo Halytskyi International Airport, spoke about the readiness of airports.
Mechanisms for coordinating civil and military aviation were presented by Oleh Zakharchuk, Deputy Commander of the Center Air Command for Aviation and Chief of Aviation.
The Polish Air Navigation Services Agency, AirBaltic, Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, SkyUp Airlines, Skyline Express, SprintAir, Supernova Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Wizz Air, AerCap, Boeing, Marsh McLennan, Deloitte Ukraine and others also joined the expert discussion.
In 2023, there was a lot of talk about the possibility of opening an airport in Ukraine. In particular, the possibility of opening Lviv airport following the example of the grain corridor was discussed.
In early 2024, Ukraine started negotiations with US and EU regulators to resume passenger air travel. The government has stated that there are different scenarios at the level of plans regarding the number of airports that can be opened in Ukraine.
