Page 58 - UKRRptDec21

any other groups and other influences.”
The airline, to be known as YUNA, will start next year with two domestic and 14 international destinations. By 2023, YUNA is to fly to eight Ukrainian cities. Fazier, the consultant, said the airline will apply to the US Federal Aviation Administration for approval, a move that implies flights to New York. To get the airline off the ground, the government is budgeting $110 million, for this year and for 2022, Minister Kubrakov said. He predicted that the airline would break even in five years.
Ronald Schultz, head of global markets for Lufthansa Consulting, cautioned Ukrainian officials to keep the air travel market open to private companies. “Do not close up, do not turn to protectionism, be efficient, have good business plans,” said the executive from Lufthansa, a state company until 1994. “New airlines will add GDP growth, but try to avoid political influence on business.”
To boost domestic air travel, the government is moving to reduce the VAT tax on domestic air tickets to 7%, from 20% today, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov told the aviation and tourism conference. Estimating that this could cut ticket prices by 10-20%, Kubrakov predicted: “We will increase volumes, and our domestic air transportation will become more affordable for citizens.” VAT is not levied on international tickets.
Renovations of Ukraine’s Soviet-era airports are underway across Ukraine, President Zelenskiy told the forum. “There are new runways, new terminals in Chernivtsi, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kryvyi Rih, Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Odesa, Kherson, Vinnytsia, Poltava, and we are preparing to build two more new airports in eastern Ukraine and more. one new airport in Transcarpathia,” he said.
Next summer, work is to start at Zakarpattia’s new airport. It will be located 10 km south of Mukachevo, at the site of an old Soviet air force base. Also next year, work is to be completed on the airports of Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskiy’s home city. In addition renovation work is to start next year on the airports of Chernivtsi, Poltava and Zhytomyr.
Design work is starting on two airports in the east, both in government-controlled Donetsk Oblast. One will be near Mariupol. The other will be between Kramatorsk and Slovyansk. The sites will be made public after final approval by the military.
A decade-old project to build a new terminal for Kyiv Boryspil may move ahead. On Wednesday, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a funding mechanism.
The government is spending $125 million to renovate Ukraine’s regional airports this year, Prime Minister Shmyhal told the forum. The big ticket items are: Dnipro - $52 million; Odesa -- $26 million; Vinnytsia -- $22 million; and
58 UKRAINE Country Report December 2021 www.intellinews.com