Ukraine working 'intensively' to restore air travel - Reuters

Ukraine is working "intensively" with partners to restore air travel suspended for nearly two years, with the main focus on Boryspil International Airport outside the capital Kyiv.

Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Rostyslav Shurma said this during a panel discussion in Davos on Thursday, January 18, Ukrinform reports, citing Reuters.

"I don't want to create over-expectations [...] but I can tell you we are working very intensively to recover the air connection in Ukraine," Shurma said.

He declined to give a timeline for the possible restoration of air travel but said Ukraine had an "internal roadmap and schedule".

He said that Ukraine was considering reopening either Boryspil airport or another in the western region of Lviv, but the international hub near Kyiv was the priority.

According to him, Kyiv is consulting Israeli colleagues on technical specifications to enable the restoration process, without elaborating.

"We need to get approvals from the IATA (International Air Transport Association) and FAA (the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration) which is not an easy case. And it depends more on the bold decisions of international partners that we believe we'll get," Shurma said.

On November 15, 2023, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, stated that Ukraine was considering reopening a civilian airport before the end of the war. He said the Ukrainian authorities and partners were already working on this, but he did not specify which airport could resume flights.