Number of flights in Ukraine 90.2% down in April over coronavirus

The Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise (UkSATSE) says the number of flights in Ukraine in April 2020 decreased by 90.2% year-over-year (y-o-y) due to the quarantine set by the government to combat the novel COVID-19 coronavirus.

Read alsoUkraine president's office: Ad hoc group elaborates creation of state air carrier operating Antonov aircraft

"The UkSATSE [in April] handled 559 domestic flights (78.3% down y-o-y), 607 international ones (95.2% down), and 1,206 transit ones (86.3% down)," the company's press service said on May 4.

"A similar trend is observed across Europe. According to Eurocontrol [the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation], the air traffic in the European region shrank by 88% in April. Eurocontrol's updated outlook for May says that the flying rate may increase to 15% of the number of flights over this period last year," the press service added.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Hungary's Wizz Air, the largest discount carrier in Central and Eastern Europe, will open a new base at Ukraine's Lviv Danylo Halytskyi International Airport, where it will deploy one Airbus A320. It is also launching seven new routes from Ukraine.