Page 59 - UKRRptDec21

Kherson -- $18.5 million. The government pays to rebuild runways and tries to get private companies to build the terminals. Next month, after a three year break for a $5 million runway repair, Cherkasy airport is to reopen for Christmas holiday charters. The airport can now handle Boeing 737s.
By 2030, the government plans to invest $1.25 billion in Ukraine’s aviation industry, Prime Minister Shmyhal said. As part of this, by 2025, 45 high-tech aircraft companies are to receive by 2025 exemption from income tax, value added tax, land tax, import duties on high-tech equipment, Prime Minister Shmyhal told the forum.
Zaporizhia’s Motor Sich presented a new model of an all-Ukrainian helicopter yesterday. Among the 39 domestic suppliers, a key company is Kharkiv’s FED, which will provide flight control systems and hydraulic systems.
Airbus Helicopters is discussing with Ukroboronprom the creation of a helicopter service center and a flight school in Ukraine, Jacques Gareg, Airbus vice president for Development, told the Boryspil conference. The service center would be on land owned by the defense conglomerate in Nizhyn, Chernihiv Region. The flight school would be in Kremenchuk, Poltava Region. “One of the big challenges before us is to continue servicing our area,” said Gareg. “We will need partners in Ukraine. We must develop this cooperation in the direction of helicopters." Last year, Airbus delivered 300 helicopters, accounting for half of the world market for civilian helicopters with five or more seats.
Separately, Antonov is negotiating with Western companies to set up in Kyiv a center for converting passenger aircraft to cargo aircraft. Due to Covid restrictions on passengers and worldwide supply bottlenecks, cargo is often more profitable than passengers.
By the end of November, Air Ocean Airlines, a new, all-Antonov airline will start scheduled service with five domestic Ukraine routes and two international routes, Vyacheslav Gehriga, executive director, tells avianews.com. Air Ocean will have a fleet of six An-148 regional jets, which can seat 75-83 passengers. These Antonovs were built over the last decade under license in Voronezh, Russia and sold to Angara, a Siberian airline. Due to the war, Angara had a hard time maintaining the planes. Air Ocean will be based in Kyiv Sikorsky where Aircraft Repair Plant 410 specializes in maintaining Antonovs. President Zelenskiy often uses for flights within Ukraine one of two government-owned An-148s based at Boryspil for VIP flights. Air Ocean is not part of Zelenskiy’s project to build a national airline, avianews said. The first domestic routes will be: from Kyiv Sikorsky to Chernivtsi, Lviv and Zaporizhia; and from Lviv to Dnipro and to Kharkiv. The first international routes will be Kyiv-Amman and Chernivtsi-Istanbul. The airline may base one plane in Chernivtsi. Eschewing the discount model, Air Ocean will offer economy and economy plus seats, with one-way tickets selling for $50-60. An-148s are most economical on 2-2.5 hour flights. By March, the airline expects to receive all six aircraft under a lease agreement. If business prospers, it may buy an An-148 and a larger A-158 that are under construction at Antonov’s assembly lines in Kyiv.
59 UKRAINE Country Report December 2021 www.intellinews.com