KYIV: Ukraine is working “intensively” with partners to restore air travel suspended for nearly two years, with the main focus on Boryspil International Airport outside the capital Kyiv, a presidential official said on Thursday.
Ukraine’s airspace was abruptly closed by Russia’s invasion in February 2022 due to the security risk for civil aviation and anyone visiting has to make their way by road or rail from a neighboring country.
Kyiv sees a restoration of air travel as a goal toward victory for the economy.
“I don’t want to create over-expectations ... but I can tell you we are working very intensively to recover the air connection in Ukraine,” Rostyslav Shurma, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said during a panel discussion in Davos.
Shurma declined to give a timeline for the possible restoration of air travel but said Ukraine had an “internal roadmap and schedule.”
He said Kyiv was consulting Israeli colleagues on technical specifications to enable the restoration process, without elaborating. Israel has long experience in deploying air defense systems to protect its infrastructure.
“We need to get approvals from the IATA (International Air Transport Association) and FAA (the US Federal Aviation Administration) which is not an easy case. And it depends more on the bold decisions of international partners that we believe we’ll get,” Shurma said.
An insurance program for grain shipments through the Black Sea corridor, run by broker Marsh with other insurers and Ukrainian state banks, could be used as a blueprint for restoring air travel, Marsh’s CEO John Doyle said.
“The near-term focus is moving past that Unity facility (for grain shipments), using that as a blueprint to support other aspects of the economy. As we discussed, travel is an important part of it. That’s going to be part of our focus over the coming months,” he told the same panel in Davos.
Shurma said Ukraine was considering reopening either Boryspil airport or another in the western region of Lviv, but the international hub near Kyiv was the priority.
In December, Boryspil saw the departure of a Boeing 777-300 on a technical flight, a sign the infrastructure remains in working condition.
Ukraine working ‘intensively’ to restore air travel
https://arab.news/cqqcm
Ukraine working ‘intensively’ to restore air travel
- “I can tell you we are working very intensively to recover the air connection in Ukraine,” Rostyslav Shurma, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said
- Shurma declined to give a timeline for the possible restoration of air travel
Brazil’s Lula accuses Trump of seeking to forge ‘new UN’
- Lula defended multilateralism against what he called “the law of the jungle” in global affairs
- Key US allies including France and Britain have also expressed doubts
BRASILIA: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Donald Trump on Friday of trying to create “a new UN” with his proposed “Board of Peace.”
The veteran leftist joins other world leaders who have avoided signing up for Trump’s new global conflict resolution organization, where a permanent seat costs $1 billion and the chairman is Trump himself.
“Instead of fixing” the United Nations, “what’s happening? President Trump is proposing to create a new UN where only he is the owner,” Lula said.
Trump unveiled his “Board of Peace” at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos Thursday, joined on stage by leaders and officials from 19 countries to sign its founding charter.
Lula defended multilateralism against what he called “the law of the jungle” in global affairs.
His remarks come a day after he spoke by phone with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who urged his counterpart to safeguard the “central role” of the United Nations in international affairs.
In his remarks on Friday, Lula said “the UN charter is being torn.”
Although originally intended to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, the board’s charter does not seem to limit its role to the Palestinian territory and appears to want to rival the United Nations.
Key US allies including France and Britain have also expressed doubts.
London balked at the inclusion of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces are fighting in Ukraine after invading in 2022.
France said the charter as it currently stood was “incompatible” with its international commitments, especially its UN membership.
