Foreign expert says Lviv Airport could resume flights in 2025 – Reuters

Ukraine could reopen Lviv Airport next year, partially restoring the air services that had been suspended across the country since the Russian full-scale invasion started.

The relevant statement was made by Reuters, referring to Crispin Ellison, a senior partner at insurance broker Marsh McLennan, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to Ellison, Kyiv had been in talks with European aviation authorities and airlines on restoring some air travel for almost a year.

“If regulators agree it is safe to open it and a political decision is made, the insurance industry is ready to support the recovery efforts,” Ellison said, referring to 2025.

As noted by Reuters, the State Aviation Service said in written comments it was considering the possibility of a phased and limited opening of airspace for civil aviation “provided the risks are assessed and reduced to an acceptable level, and additional security measures are implemented”. At the same time, the agency did not provide any timeframe.

Ensuring the safety of the airspace is a primary task and “there has been a lot of work around this challenge”, Ellison mentioned, without providing additional details.

In his words, Marsh McLennan has been supporting the Ukrainian government to put together an insurance facility to cover commercial aviation. The broker already runs an insurance programme for ships carrying all cargos via Ukraine’s Black Sea corridor.

The aviation sector is involved in the talks, Ellison shared.

“National carriers, low-cost and Ukrainian airlines (are) all expressing an interest and looking at whether they do this,” the expert told.

The Ukrainian government is also keen to reopen the country’s main airport just outside Kyiv, according to Reuters, but Ellison believes the aviation market is waiting “until confidence has been gained that this can happen in a much lower-risk scenario.”

Russia has been continuously attacking Ukraine’s territory with missiles and drones for over 2.5 years since the full-scale war started. Kyiv and the surrounding region are regularly targeted by Russian long-range attacks.

Meanwhile, the Lviv region, which borders Poland, rarely comes under Russian strikes compared to other parts of Ukraine. Lviv Airport has two terminals and had the capacity to serve up to 3,000 passengers per hour before the war.