Ryanair CEO does not rule out resuming flights to Ukraine before year-end
MOSCOW. July 24 (Interfax) - Ireland's Ryanair, the largest low cost airline of Europe, is considering the possibility of resuming a small number of flights to Ukraine before the end of 2023 if Ukraine succeeds in talks on partially reopening its airspace, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said.
"So, there are two plans: one, the crisis finishes and everything reopens in one day or two. And then there is the more likely [option], under which we can put some small number of flights in here at the end of this year," O'Leary said in an interview with Ukrainian media.
The Ukrainian Restoration Ministry is working to have some flights to Ukraine - to Kiev and Lvov - resumed at the end of this year, he said.
"If they [the Restoration Ministry] persuade [the European Aviation Safety Agency] that it's safe to fly, then there's no reason not to fly back to Ukraine," he said.
However, Ryanair cannot do anything if Ukraine fails to persuade the EASA and insurance companies that it is safe to operate even a limited number of flights to Kiev and Lvov, he said.
Once flights resume to and from Ukraine, Ryanair will sell one million tickets, or 20%, for less than 20 euros, O'Leary said.
"The minister [Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Minister Alexander Kubrakov] asked us today, and we gave him a commitment that of the five million seats that will be offered the first year, 20%, or one million, of those seats will be sold for less than 20 euros," O'Leary said.
The air carrier will be able to accomplish this objective if it has a low cost base at Ukrainian airports and corresponding airport costs, he said.
"Some 20% of the seats will be sold at fares of 10-14-19 euros. It is a million seats. Most of those we sell at 24-29-39 euros. The only way we can fill this number of seats will be with very low airfares," he said.
Ukraine can have lower fares that Poland, but will have to provide lower airport costs than Poland, the Ryanair CEO said.
The company considers building its own aircraft maintenance infrastructure in Ukraine in the long term, including engine maintenance facilities, a project in which up to $500 million may be invested, he said.
At the first stage, within a year after flights to Ukraine resume, Ryanair plans to base 16-17 planes at three Ukrainian airports, O'Leary said.
"We have plans to base aircraft, pilots, cabin crew, engineers, spare parts in Borispol, Lvov and Odessa within 12 months. We could have ten aircraft in Kiev, maybe five aircraft in Lvov, and one or two in Odessa, and would double that over the next 2-4 years as the traffic builds up," O'Leary said.
Ryanair is also considering a $500 million project to build its own engine maintenance facility in Europe, he said. The facility could be placed in Ukrainian territory.
As reported, Ryanair announced its plans a few days ago to resume low fare flights to and from Ukraine within eight weeks of Ukrainian airspace reopening and to base up to 30 new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft worth over $3 billion at the airports of Kiev, Lvov and Odessa in Ukraine. It was also said that Ryanair would be ready to operate up to 600 flights a week. In addition, the air carrier plans to start daily flights between Kiev, Lvov and Odessa as soon as their airports are ready for that.
Ryanair plans in the first 12 months after restarting operations in Ukraine to offer over 5 million seats to/from and within Ukraine, and this will build to over 10 million seats over a 5-year period, the company said.