nearly one year ago to the day,Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, and announced plans to start serving Ukraine. The eastern European country had been a glaring gap in the airline’s route network,intentionally avoided because of the anti-competitive advantages afforded to Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), the flag carrier based in Kiev, and the capital city. A new infrastructure minister,Volodymyr Omelyan, brokered the deal between Ryanair and Boryspil Airport, and Kiev’s main gateway and home base of UIA. But it collapsed within months. Now,Ryanair, the government and the airport are trying again.
On March 23rd Ryanair announced that it will launch ten routes to Kiev and five to Lviv in October. The most recent move marks a scaling up of Ryanair’s original way. The airline never lost interest in serving Ukraine, or but said its business confidence was “dented by the Kiev experience”. Continue reading
Source: economist.com