Page 59 - UKRRptJun20

9.1.2 ​Automotive sector news
New car sales dropped in half in April, ​compared to April last year. New car registrations totalled 3,700, according to UkrAvtoProm, the vehicle association. By comparison, April sales in some European countries were down 80-90%. In Ukraine, coronavirus curbs spoiled a strong start to the year. Prior to March, experts forecast a 25% growth in new car sales, to over 100,000.
9.1.3​ Transport sector news
● Planes
Ukraine’s airlines are losing a total of $25mn a month during the coronavirus lockdown, ​up from teh $8mn/month he estaimted earlier, Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krykliy calculates in an interview with the online publication Bukva. Monthly losses include: Lviv airport - $1.5mn; Boryspil Airport - $4mn; and UkSATSE - $8mn. The Ministry is negotiating with Egypt, Georgia and Turkey to restore charter flights from Ukraine, Ministry spokeswoman Oksana Gerasimov tells RBC-Ukraine.
Kyiv Sikorsky airport revenues are down by 92%, 2,000 employees are on unpaid leave for two months​, and the airport managing company, Master-Avia LLC, is mulling bankruptcy, Oleh Levchenko, the company CEO, tells LB.ua. Wizz Air, responsible for about 80% of the flights, had planned to resume flights in mid-May. But Infrastructure Minister Vladyslav Krikliy said he will only consider renewing international flights to Ukraine after June 15, stretching the flight suspension into three months. In 2010, to help Ukraine prepare for the Euro 2012 football championship, Master-Avia signed a 49-year management lease for Kyiv’s right bank airport. Since then, it invested $78mn to rebuild and expand the single runway airport. Passenger traffic grew: from 29,000 in 2010, to 2.6mn last year.
Although the Ukraine’s government has yet to announce when Ukraine’s airports will reopen, five airlines have scheduled to restart flights to Ukraine​. They are: Lufthansa — June 1; Czech Airlines — June 3; airBaltic — June 10; Swiss — June 21; ; and Wizz Air — July 1. In the first half of June, Lufthansa Group airlines — Lufthansa, Swiss, Eurowings — plans to resume flights to 106 German and European destinations.
Ukraine does not plan to restore international air travel this summer,
Foreign Minister Kuleba tells TSN’s Breakfast with 1+1. “No full-fledged resumption of international air traffic is expected this summer -- for sure it won't be the case as it used to be.” Turning to air travel inside Ukraine, about 10% of the air market, he said: “We'll very cautiously try to relaunch domestic flights this summer.” As for international bus trips, which tend to be longer and more crowded than flights, he said they would be restored as soon as Ukraine’s entry ban on foreigners are lifted.
Flights in Ukraine in April were 90% below the level of April last year
reports UkSATSE, the air traffic control agency. Of 2,372 flights, about half were transit, or flyovers. Of the rest, 559 were domestic, 607 were international. Similarly, Eurocontrol, the Brussels based regional air traffic control coordinator, says European air traffic in April was down 88% y/y.
59​ UKRAINE Country Report​ June 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com