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Eastern Europe
July 28, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
"Yesterday I received several court claims from UIA, the essence of which is the following: to an- nul the contract of Ryanair with the Lviv airport, ban the ministry from helping Ryanair in Ukraine, and the icing on the cake – over the possible arriv- al of Ryanair to Ukraine UIA had to cut prices and caused damage to itself. The airline asks the court that the Infrastructure Ministry compensates tens of millions of hryvnias of the 'loss'," the minister wrote on his Facebook page, reports Interfax.
Ryanair pulled out of a deal to open routes to Ukraine over a "failure to honour commitments", in what quickly turned into a scandal. The popu- lation were looking forward to cheap tickets to Europe. Currently the market is dominated by a few oligarch and state-controlled companies that charge prices that make foreign travel for most Ukrainians unaffordable.
In light of the outcry, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman quickly backpedalled and ordered new negotiations with Ryanair. However, the whole fiasco highlights the problems of reforming Ukraine: vested interests have captured certain parts of the economy and are making good money, so they desperately want to stave off competition and can use the levers of power to get their way.
Omelyan also said in his post that UIA has used all possible means to block the Ryanair deal.
"In short, I, of course, will stand fast – Ukrainians have the right and must receive high-quality and cheap services in all spheres. Low cost airlines and Ryanair will be in Ukraine," he said.