The opening of Ryanair flights from Kharkiv Airport is the result of lengthy talks
In particular, passengers will be able to visit Poland's Krakow and Lithuania's Vilnius.
Ukraine's Kharkiv International Airport has begun cooperation with Europe's major discount air carrier, Ireland's Ryanair, by launching new international flights from the city of Kharkiv.
"We are pleased that Kharkiv Airport has become the third Ukrainian airport for Ryanair. In 2019, we plan to connect Ukraine with 24 cities in 11 countries and serve 1.4 million passengers annually," Ryanair Sun chief executive Michal Kaczmarczyk disclosed the company's plans in Ukraine at a press conference at Kharkiv Airport on March 26.
In particular, passengers will be able to visit Poland's Krakow and Lithuania's Vilnius.
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"We're pleased that it was Kharkiv Airport that was chosen by such a significant airline for cooperation. We have already discussed with Ryanair representatives our future plans, and we hope there are still many common projects ahead," said Chairwoman of Kharkiv Regional State Administration Yulia Svitlychna.
"The opening of Ryanair flights from Kharkiv Airport is the result of lengthy talks. We had a meeting with Ryanair for the first time back in 2010 at Routes [an international forum], which was held at our airport. That was the starting point in our relationship. The beginning of cooperation with Ryanair opens up great opportunities for expanding Kharkiv Airport's route network, because this low-cost air carrier is the largest airline in Europe," said Volodymyr Vasylchenko, CEO of New Systems AM, a member of Oleksandr Yaroslavsky's DCH Group and the operating company of Kharkiv International Airport.
As early as June 2019, airplanes will start flying on the route between Kharkiv and Krakow (Poland), and the Kharkiv-Vilnius (Lithuania) route will be launched in October. Flights to both cities will be carried out twice a week. The first passengers are offered discounts on tickets to Krakow subject to their purchase until midnight on Thursday, March 28 of this year at a price of EUR 14.99. Tickets are available on the airline's website.
Ryanair, Ireland's No.1 airline, is the largest European low-cost carrier. It operates over 450 aircraft flying to over more than 1,600 directions, linking 215 airports in 34 countries. In 2018, Ryanair served 139.2 million passengers.
Kharkiv International Airport is one of the key infrastructure facilities in the city and in Kharkiv region. Yaroslavsky's DCH Group provided investment in its reconstruction as part of the preparation of Kharkiv's key infrastructure facilities for the European Football Championship in 2012 (Euro 2012). The investment in the project, including the construction of a new airport terminal complex and the reconstruction of the old one, amounted to over $107 million. The state invested a comparable amount in the reconstruction of its aerodrome.
The rapid expansion of the network of domestic and international regular flights allowed Kharkiv Airport to set new historical records in 2018 as it handled about a million travelers. In 2018, it opened six new regular flights to London (Great Britain), Vienna (Austria), Dortmund (Germany), Katowice, Gdansk, and Wroclaw (all three in Poland), as well as seasonal flights to Tbilisi, Batumi (both in Georgia), Milan (Italy), Barcelona (Spain), Rimini (Italy), and Burgas (Bulgaria). The number of departures on international flights in 2018 totaled 3,139, and expected to grow in 2019. This year, Kharkiv Airport plans to increase passenger traffic by 25% to 1.2 million travelers by attracting new air carriers and launching new flights.