Ukraine begins formal negotiations with the US and the EU to resume air travel

Ukraine is starting formal talks with US and European safety regulators to resume air travel. They have already been given the vision of Ukraine regarding the operation of the market under martial law.

The Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction Oleksandr Kubrakov reported this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.

"It is impossible to carry out international flights without the approval of two regulators — European and American. Thatʼs how it works. The Ukrainian side has already submitted to the regulators its vision of how the market will work under martial law conditions, its risk assessment, approaches, algorithms," he said.

The minister reminded that the most successful example of the operation of airports during the war is Israel. The Ukrainian side is conducting consultations with the civil aviation administration of this country.

"I donʼt want to talk about any deadlines, but now we will officially convey our vision to the regulators and we are entering into official negotiations with them," Kubrakov said.

According to the minister, there are European companies that are very interested in returning to the Ukrainian market. Among them, in particular, Ryanair. Negotiations are also underway with three Ukrainian airlines.

As for the creation of a national aviation operator, Kubrakov said, it is definitely not the main priority during the war, but then we will have to return to this issue.

• The sky over Ukraine has been closed since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Over the past two years, there have been periodic announcements about plans to open part of the sky or launch limited air services, for example from Kyiv to Lviv. Practical solutions have not yet been announced.
• Airlines are ready to fly to Ukraine after the war. Ryanair even announced a return plan, which envisages launching 75 air routes from Europe to Ukraine in the first 8 weeks after the end of the war.