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over 2018.
● Planes
Kyiv Sikorsky, Ukraine’s second busiest airport, is cutting its staff in half in order to stave off bankruptcy, announces Oleh Levchenko, CEO of Master Avia, the management company. Layoffs will total 1,000 people and will affect 8,000 people working at support businesses. “Bankruptcy of Kyiv Airport would have disastrous consequences for the international image, the aviation industry of Ukraine, the economy and the labour market as a whole,” Levchenko writes on the airport’s Facebook page. He complains of “the absence of any reaction and assistance from the government , the relevant ministry [Infrastructure], as well as the authorities of Kyiv.”
From Kyiv Boryspil, flights took off for seven foreign cities, largely special ‘evacuation’ flights on June 17. Through June 30, UIA is offering one time flights to and from these cities: London Heathrow; Bangkok; New York; Istanbul; Amsterdam; Miami, Paris; Athens, Dubai; and Tel Aviv.
About 100 flights a day flew in Ukraine’s airspace in May, down 89% year over year, reports UkSATSE, the national air traffic control agency. Next On June 8, after a 3-month suspension, international flights are to be re-started in and out of Ukraine. Domestic flights started from Kyiv Boryspil to Odesa and Dnipro in the first week of June. But UkSATSE reports: “Experts estimate that a return to the volume of pre-crisis flights can last up to two years.”
About 100 km north of Zaporizhia, construction is to start this year on rebuilding Dnipro airport and runway, Minister Krikliy said. As part of $3.7mn worth of design work, a ‘Scandinavian-style” design was unveiled in mid-March by Dnipropetrovsk Region officials. Designed by Ukraine’s UVT Group, the terminal will be built by Alexander Yaroslavsky’s DCH Group. The state will build a 3.2 km runway and install modern navigation systems. When completed, Dnipro’s terminal is to be able to handle 1,300 passengers an hour, three times Zaporizhia. To ease access, a $7mn, 7 km Dnipro Bypass is being built, connecting the Zaporizhia Highway and Dnipro Airport.
● Trains
Ukraine’s main railway equipment manufacturer is challenging a tender that awarded a contract to China Railway Construction Corporation to build eight 5-coach subway trains for Kharkiv’s Metro. Noting that the Chinese winning bid was only 1% below the Ukrainian €49mn bid, Kriukiv Railway Car Building Works, of Kremenchuk, charges that Kharkiv Metro will have to pay an extra 25% for VAT and customs duties on imported equipment. They say the principal funder, the European Investment Bank, stipulates that national companies get preferences in the international tender. “At the plant, that they are surprised by the decision of the tender committee, since during the period of the economic crisis it would be more advisable to place orders with domestic enterprises,” reports Kyiv’s centre for Transportation Strategies.
The first China-Ukraine container train arrived Monday at Kyiv’s left bank freight terminal near Darnytsia. Carrying 41 containers, the train took 15 days to travel 9,000 km from northern China through Mongolia and then Russia to Ukraine. By ship, the same trip takes 45 days, Ukrzaliznytsia Infrastructure Director Roman Veprytsky writes on Facebook. The next
65 UKRAINE Country Report July 2020 www.intellinews.com
