Ukrainian airline announces flights from Kyiv to New York and Toronto (02/02/03)

Ukrainian airline announces flights from Kyiv to New York and Toronto

by Andrew Nynka

NEW YORK - A Ukrainian commercial airline, Aerosvit, announced it would open two new non-stop trans-Atlantic routes - one between Kyiv and New York, starting on March 30, and the other route, between Kyiv and Toronto, by the end of June - said Gregory Gurtovoy, the company's director general, on January 27.

At the moment, airline officials said there are no plans to expand service from Ukraine to other cities throughout North America. Officials did add that, on the flights from New York to Kyiv, the airline would provide connections to major cities in western Ukraine.

"We feel it is the right moment to start such services," Kostadin Botev, the company's sales director for North America, said.

Airline officials said flights would leave New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and Kyiv's Boryspil Airport on Fridays and Sundays, while an additional flight, on Tuesdays, would be added to the schedule after June 27. A fourth flight, on Thursdays, would be added to the weekly schedule by July.

"We have already sold seats for the inaugural flight [between Kyiv and New York]," Mr. Gurtovoy said. Tickets, he added, can be obtained through the airline's website, www.aerosvit.com, and through some of the travel agencies in the metropolitan area that traditionally deal with airline service to Ukraine.

Aerosvit officials stressed that the two routes are completely new for the airline and that people should not confuse Aerosvit with a different Ukrainian airline, Air Ukraine, that once flew the same route but stopped flying into New York four years ago, at which point Uzbekistan Airways filled the void.

However, since Aerosvit successfully appealed to the Ukrainian government to service the route, Uzbekistan Airways will be effectively bumped out of the picture.

Officials at the Uzbek airline said service on the Kyiv-New York route would continue until March 28, two days before Aerosvit's inaugural Kyiv-New York flight.

While the route would remain the same, Aerosvit officials said the company offering the service would be entirely different. "Our airline is on international standards in terms of the service and safety it offers its customers," Mr. Gurtovoy said at a press conference announcing the two new routes. "We also intend to offer our customers a business class with business amenities."

Additionally, Mr. Gurtovoy said that both airports in New York and Kyiv would have a special business class waiting area, similar to Continental Airline's President's Club or United Airline's Red Carpet Club.

Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations, Valeriy Kuchinsky, seemed pleased by the announcement. "This is a historic event," the ambassador said, "a Ukrainian carrier has to happen - a carrier from the capitol of Ukraine that would fly to other major Western cities has to happen."

Aerosvit officials said their plans for the future include a development program that would create "a convenient connection between cities in Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Russia and North America."

Currently Aerosvit uses a fleet of seven Boeing aircraft, including a recently purchased Boeing 767-300ER for transcontinental flights, with the purchase of a second Boeing 767-300ER planned in May.

Aerosvit first opened for business in 1994 with flights from Kyiv to Tel-Aviv, Israel; Odesa, Ukraine; Thessaloniki and Athens, Greece; and Larnaca, Cyprus.

Aerosvit's newest office, which opened for business on January 27, is located at 420 Lexington Ave., Suite 2930, New York, NY 10170, and can be reached by phone, (212) 661-1620; or fax, (212) 661-1602.

Aerosvit Airlines is a closed joint-stock company with 62 percent of its shares owned by Ukrainian shareholders. Twenty-two percent of those shares are held by the State Property Fund of Ukraine and 40 percent are held by the Ukrainian travel agency CJSC-Aerotour Agency for Air Communications and Tourism. The remaining 38 percent belong to a Dutch investment company. As of the beginning of 2002 Aerosvit had 650 employees scattered throughout offices located in Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Greece, Thailand, Hungary, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Russia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Sweden, Bulgaria, Israel, Malta and Poland.

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