Ukraine International Airlines

History

The airline was established on 1 October 1992, and started operations on 25 November 1992 with a Kiev-London flight. It was 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 (GPA), an Irish aircraft-leasing company. In 1996, Austrian Airlines and Swissair became shareholders, investing US$9 million in new equity.

The airline began cargo operations with a Boeing 737-200 aircraft on 13 November 1994 to London and Amsterdam, and today operates a Boeing 737-300F as a dedicated aircraft for freight operations.

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.

In February 2011, the Ukrainian government sold its 61,6% stake in UIA to three existing minority shareholders for 287 million UAH ($36.2 million). As of 26 July 2013, the airline was owned by Ukraine-based Capital Investment Project LLC (74%) and Cyprus-based Ontobet Promotions Limited (26%)

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.

In the first half of 2013, the airline's traffic rose by 60% to 7006220000000000000♠2,200,000 passengers. According to the company's president Yuri Myroshnikov, the UIA planned to achieve the same 2013 yearly results (i.e. to reach yearly traffic of 7006440000000000000♠4,400,000). On 25 April 2014, UIA began non-stop flights from Kiev to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.

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 (Sheremetyevo Airport), 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.

Like lowcost-carriers UIA doesn't offer free catering on board excepting a free glass of water. However, passengers may order prepaid meals.

Since June 2016 most of UIA's international flights are sold with the basic "handluggage-only-tariff". If passengers are booking this tariff and want to check in luggage, fees up to 60 USD per flight will be charged.

Since summer 2016 UIA wetleases an ERJ 145 from Dniproavia (also of the group "Privat") for daily services to Chernivtsi (because the condition of the airport doesn't allow E-190 and B737-operations)

On 14 June 2016 the offices of UIA were searched because of an investigation of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine concerning not paid passenger fees to State Aviation Fund.

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.

Destinations

UIA connects Ukraine to over 80 destinations in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, as well as to New York City, from its base at Boryspil Airport, and also operates domestic flights. UIA serves over 1100 flights per week and provides connections with its international partners’ flights to more than 3,000 other destinations across the world.

Codeshare agreements

Ukraine International Airlines has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:

Fleet

The Ukraine International Airlines fleet consists of the following aircraft as of December 2016: