Ukraine International Airlines


Ukraine International Airlines PJSC, often shortened to UIA, is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Ukraine, with its head office in Kiev and its main hub at Kiev's Boryspil International Airport. It operates domestic and international passenger flights and cargo services to Europe, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, and Asia.

History

Early history

Established on 1 October 1992, the airline started operations on 25 November 1992 with a Kiev-London flight. It became one of the first "joint ventures with foreign capital" in Ukraine and the first airline in the former Soviet Union to use new Boeing 737-400 aircraft. The founding shareholders were the Ukrainian Association of Civil Aviation and Guinness Peat Aviation, an Irish aircraft-leasing company.
The airline began cargo operations with a Boeing 737-200 aircraft on 13 November 1994 to London and Amsterdam.
In 1996, Austrian Airlines and Swissair became shareholders, investing US$9 million in new equity.
In 2000, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development became a shareholder by investing $5.4 million. In 2006, UIA adopted a new classification-system for freight operations which allowed the airline to carry a wider range of goods, ranging from live animals to fresh food and valuable objects. Additionally, an express service was introduced to meet the needs of customers wishing to make use of expedited cargo-delivery services.

Developments since 2013

In the first half of 2013, the airline's traffic rose by 60% to passengers. According to the company's president Yuri Miroshnikov, the UIA planned to achieve the same 2013 yearly results. On 25 April 2014, UIA began non-stop flights from Kiev to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. Also in 2013, due to the demise of competitor Aerosvit, UIA launched new flights from Ukraine to Baku in Azerbaijan, Yerevan in Armenia, Larnaca in Cyprus, Munich in Germany, Warsaw in Poland, Vilnius in Lithuania, Prague in the Czech Republic, Athens in Greece, Batumi in Georgia, Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Saint Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Nizhnevartovsk, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Sochi in Russia, Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, and in 2014, New York City in the United States.
In October 2015, UIA was banned by Russian government from flying to Russian destinations as a response to a ban by Ukrainian government of Russian airlines from flying into Ukraine.
Since June 2016, most of UIA's international flights are sold with the basic "hand luggage-only tariff". If passengers are booking this tariff and want to check in luggage, fees up to US$60 per flight will be charged. Also since summer 2016 UIA wetleases an ERJ 145 from Dniproavia for daily services to Chernivtsi
On 14 June 2016, the offices of UIA were searched because of an investigation of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine concerning passenger fees not paid to the State Aviation Fund.
In March 2018, Ukraine International announced a fleet modernization plan. While the first of three pre-owned Boeing 777-200ER had already been delivered, the airline expects several new Boeing 737 and Embraer 195 aircraft during the year to replace the last Boeing 737 Classics.
Ukraine International ceased being a member of the Flying Blue rewards programme as of 1 January 2019. Ukraine International Airlines informs about the delay of 22 flights, which has occurred in the evening of 29 January at Boryspil Airport. The delays were caused by the failure in refueling aircraft with aviation fuel. UIA will continue to write losses with approximately 50m USD for 2019 and therefore implemented saving measures according to the new CEO.

Corporate affairs

In February 2011, the Ukrainian government sold its 61.6% stake in UIA to three existing minority shareholders for UAH 287 million . As of 26 July 2013, the airline was owned by Ukraine-based Capital Investment Project LLC and Cyprus-based Ontobet Promotions Limited. Capital Investment Process, in turn, is owned by Ontobet. The owners are represented by Aron Mayberg, a business partner of Igor Kolomoyskyi and the former CEO of the bankrupt AeroSvit Airlines, from which partially licences and planes were transferred to Ukraine International Airlines.
As of 22 June 2016, the ownership structure is registered as the following: 74.1627% Capital Investment Project, Ukraine and 15.9108% Ontobet Promotions Ltd, Cyprus.
This is the second year in a row that the company has made a loss, despite seeing growth in passengers. According to a February statement by company head Yuri Miroshnikov, UIA is struggling to stay profitable in the face of growing competition from budget airlines. In 2017, the company recorded a UAH 304 million loss.
Ukraine International Airlines posted a net loss of almost UAH 2.7 billion in 2018, or about nine times more than it lost in 2017, Ukrainian media reported on 25 March, citing a UIA investor report.
Ukraine International Airlines, the country's national carrier, is to slow down its expansion plans in order to stabilise its financial performance and climb out of the red.
Yuri Miroshnikov is stepping down as president of Ukraine International Airlines on 12 September after 15 years of managing Ukraine's national carrier and working for UIA since 1993. Evgeny Dykhne will take on the leadership role at UIA from 18 September 2019.
The head of the state air traffic regulator of Ukraine stated at 8.11.2019 that UIA would owe them actually 1 billion UAH of not paid fees and penalties.

Destinations

UIA connects Ukraine to over 80 destinations in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, as well as to New York City and Toronto from its base at Boryspil Airport, and also operates domestic flights. UIA serves over 1000 flights per week.
Ukraine International Airlines was forced to make some involuntary changes to its summer 2019 flight schedules, with reduced frequencies and capacity on some selected routes. Although not officially a budget airline, many of UIA's worldwide flights are popular with travellers because of its low fares, they use Boryspil International Airport as a transport hub.
Due to ongoing losses, the airline suspended flights to Amman, Riga, Beijing and Minsk in November 2019. From 2020, flights to Bangkok and Krakow will also be suspended.

Codeshare agreements

Ukraine International Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:
, the Ukraine International Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents