Ukraine International Airlines

Early history

Ukraine International Airlines was established as an alternative to Ukraine Airlines, a remnant of the Soviet Era in which each country had an operating airline under financial and commercial control of Aeroflot's main office in Moscow until the Soviet Union broke up and the airliners on the ground at each airport became the property of the state in which they were grounded. In early 1992, the then Minister for Aviation in Ukraine reached an agreement on the lease of 2 Boeing 737-400s from Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA), an Irish aircraft-leasing company, and the establishment of a new airline to operate at "internationally acceptable standards of Safety, Reliability, and Service between Ukraine and Europe."

In September 1992, GPA and the new airline appointed Dublin-based International Aviation consultancy Avia International to lead the establishment and launch of the airline. Working closely with selected ex-staff of Ukraine Airlines, the joint team succeeded in launching flights to multiple destinations on schedule, beginning with a Kyiv-London flight on 25 November 1992. Other routes inaugurated in this period connected Kyiv with Berlin, Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna, and Amsterdam.

It became one of the first "joint ventures with foreign capital" in Ukraine and the first airline in the former Soviet Union to use then-new Boeing 737-400. The founding shareholders were the Ukrainian Association of Civil Aviation and GPA.

The airline began cargo operations with a Boeing 737-200 on 13 November 1994 to London and Amsterdam.

In 1996, Austrian Airlines and Swissair became shareholders, investing US$9 million in new equity.

In 2000, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development became a shareholder by investing US$5.4 million. In 2006, UIA adopted a new classification system for freight operations which allowed the airline to carry a wider range of goods, ranging from live animals to fresh food and valuable objects. Additionally, an express service was introduced to meet the needs of customers wishing to use expedited cargo-delivery services.

Developments since 2013

In the first half of 2013, the airline's patronage rose by 60% to 2,200,000 passengers. According to the company's president, Yuri Miroshnikov, UIA planned to achieve the same 2013 yearly results (i.e. to reach annual patronage of 4,400,000). Also in 2013, due to the demise of competitor Aerosvit, UIA launched new flights from Ukraine to Baku, Azerbaijan; Yerevan, Armenia; Larnaca, Cyprus; Munich, Germany; Warsaw, Poland; Vilnius, Lithuania; Prague, Czech Republic; Athens, Greece; Batumi, Georgia; Moscow (Sheremetyevo Airport), Yekaterinburg, Saint Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Nizhnevartovsk, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Sochi in Russia; and Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. On 25 April 2014, UIA began non-stop flights from Kyiv to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States.

In October 2015, the Russian government banned UIA from flying to Russian destinations as a response to a ban by the Ukrainian government on Russian airlines flying into Ukraine. Russia had annexed Crimea in 2014.

Since June 2016, most of UIA's international flights are sold with the basic "hand luggage-only tariff." If passengers booking this tariff want to check-in luggage, the airline charges fees up to US$60 per flight. Also, since the northern-hemisphere summer of 2016, UIA wet-leased an Embraer ERJ-145 from Dniproavia (also part of the Privat Group) for daily services to Chernivtsi (because the condition of the airport there doesn't allow E190 and 737 operations).

On 14 June 2016, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine had the offices of UIA searched because of an investigation by the Bureau into passenger fees not paid to the State Aviation Fund.

In March 2018, Ukraine International announced a fleet modernization plan. While the first of three pre-owned Boeing 777-200ER aircraft had already been delivered, the airline expected several new Boeing 737 and Embraer E195 aircraft during the year to replace its last Boeing 737 Classics.

Ukraine International ceased its membership of the Flying Blue rewards program on 1 January 2019. UIA expected losses of approximately US$50 million for 2019 and implemented cost-saving measures, according to the new CEO.

In September 2021, UIA announced plans to add two Boeing 777-300s to their fleet, primarily for charter operations.

Suspension of operations

The operations of the airline were severely limited following the escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian war in February 2022. As a result of the conflict, Ukrainian airspace was closed to civil aircraft. The airline suspended flights from 24 February of that year, hoping to restart them by 23 March, before extending the suspension until the end of May 2022. Castellón–Costa Azahar Airport in Spain became a storage facility for their fleet of six Boeing 737 aircraft.

Further suspension extensions were periodically announced, with the current extension announced on 10 April 2023.