Air travel is still, statistically speaking, the least popular method of travelling throughout Ukraine, largely because of high ticket prices and the varied quality of service on offer. However, the expected arrival of foreign budget operators is attracting attention and could drastically alter the Ukrainian market. A month after the announcement by a Hungarian low-cost carrier that it was coming to Ukraine the state has received an application from another company, this time a German airline which joined Wizz Air in stating that it also intended to expand its services with international flights as well.
Germans touch down
The German airline Germanwings plans to open two new routes to Ukraine in the near future, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on June 5. These two routes will be Kyiv-Berlin and Kyiv-Cologne. “Germanwings is very interested in opening regular flights between Kyiv, Berlin and Cologne. As soon as we get the permission from the Ukrainian aviation officials, we will be able to offer Ukrainian passengers flights at low prices,” said the director of corporate communications at Germanwings, Hans Joachim Schoettes. Cologne-based Germanwings was founded in 2002 and has a fleet of 27 Airbus aircraft. Its main routes are to eastern and western Europe with 69 destinations by summer.
“Germanwings has submitted to the State Aviation Administration an application for a licence for flight in Ukraine. We’re considering it,” confirmed Oleksandr Davydov, the chief of the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine. Several days after this initial announcement the Minister of Transport and Communications, Yosyp Vinskiy, promised that within a month officials would make their final decision on the German company’s application. According to Interfax, the Transport Ministry is also conducting talks with an Arab budget carrier on operations in Ukraine.
Pioneering budget airlines
If the official decision is positive, the German carrier will become the second low-cost foreign airline, after Hungary’s Wizz Air, to enter Ukraine’s domestic passenger market. The Hungarian company earlier announced that after obtaining its air operator’s certificate and operating license it would launch domestic flights as early as July 11. The airline’s domestic network will consist of flights servicing the Kyiv-Odesa, Kyiv-Simferopol, Kyiv-Lviv and Lviv-Simferopol routes. Wizz Air Ukraine announced during the airline’s Kyiv-Odessa-Kyiv demonstration flight at the end of May that it intended to operate international routes to London’s Luton airport, Dortmund and Milan Bergamo from its Kyiv base later this year. The new flights are expected to start from September 15 and will complement the airline’s domestic network. The start of ticket sales for the international flights remains subject to regulatory approvals expected to be received in the course of July.
Wizz Air’s domestic flights are already on sale with fares starting from as low as UAH 79 while the carrier’s international services will be available as soon as their airline obtains the necessary regulatory approvals with introductory fares of UAH 199 for the Milan Bergamo/Dortmund and UAH 299 for the London Luton flights. “We are pleased to have taken the next steps as we have been experiencing very high demand for low fare air tickets from the Ukrainian market since we started sales a couple of weeks ago,” said Natasa Kázmér, Director General of Wizz Air Ukraine.
Dynamic market
Ukraine’s air passenger market has grown dramatically in recent years, with an estimated 30% expansion projected for 2008 alone. The highly-regulated sector is currently dominated by a few Ukrainian airlines charging rates as much as three times higher than those offered by budget carriers over similar distances.
The appearance of low-cost airlines will make flying available for more people and create tough competition for the operators working on the market today. “Budget airlines are profitable. They save money on food, buy the same planes – and are getting more and more popular. Their penetration worldwide forces traditional carriers to review tariff policies or even launch their own low-cost flights,” said Oleksandr Kava, an independent industry analyst, adding that this is what Lufthansa did by creating its own budget company, Germanwings.
