Ukraine may allow flights to resume in early 2025

Flights to one of Ukraine's airports – Lviv or Boryspil (Kyiv) – could restart by the end of January 2025.

Source: Crispin Ellison, senior partner at the insurance company Marsh McLennan, at the Kyiv International Economic Forum, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine

Quote: "I think if we're lucky, then in January we'll have five or six airlines that want to fly from Ukraine."

According to Ellison, it will be easier to provide aviation insurance if planes begin flying from Lviv airport, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is insisting that Boryspil International Airport be opened first.

"The president will hate me for saying this because he is focused on Boryspil, but the first priority is Lviv. It's a seven-minute flight from Poland," Ellison said.

He added that passenger planes like the Airbus 320 and Boeing 737, as well as small passenger airliners, will require at least US$750 million in insurance.

According to Ellison, the final decision on flights will be made in the President's Office. It will depend on air defence operations and the security situation.

"I keep on saying that Lviv is considerably safer than Tel Aviv. People don't like it when I say that, but I do," he explained.

Background:

• Civil aviation flights over Ukraine were fully suspended on 24 February 2022.
• In April 2023, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) estimated in its 2023-2029 forecast that the restrictions on flights in Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian and Moldovan airspace would remain in place.
• Boryspil International Airport announced in October 2023 that it would be ready to handle flights within one month of the war ending.
• Andrii Yermak, Head of the Ukrainian President's Office, said in November 2023 that one of Ukraine's civilian airports will most likely resume operations even before the war ends.
• Supernova Airlines has been granted permission to operate Lviv-Prague and Kyiv-Prague flights with a frequency of seven flights per week for a regular international air service.
• Ukraine’s Ministry of Community Development, along with the directors of international airports, has presented a roadmap for reopening Ukraine's airspace during wartime.

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