REUTERS
Transit flights decreased by almost three times.
The Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise (UkSATSE) has said it lost UAH 19 billion (US$816.8 million) after the Russian occupation of Crimea and part of Donbas.
"In 2013, there was a total of 530,000 flights, and only about 300,000 flights in 2018. This is negative 44%," UkSATSE Acting Director Andriy Yarmak said in a statement, adding that there have been thrice as many transit flights as there are now, according to the Novoe Vremya online publication.
Yarmak emphasized transit flights accounted for the largest share of flights, or 65%, in 2013. In general, these were flights in the Simferopol FIR (flight information region) from Europe to the countries of Southeast Asia. After the occupation of Crimea, the State Aviation Administration closed the airspace over the peninsula and transit flows moved toward the coast of Turkey.
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It is noted now these flows account for just over 40% of the total number of flights overseen by the company. At the same time, the state-owned enterprise intends to boost transit.
"We have developed procedures for the use of airspace in the Black Sea region, a special safety case, and opened four routes over the Black Sea, which are also actively being used today," Yarmak explained.
It is emphasized the European Aviation Safety Agency approved said routes in 2015, while the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in October 2018 also concluded they were safe.