The government has begun preparing proposals for the reopening of airports in Ukraine
The Ministry of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine has set up a working group to prepare for the resumption of operations at Ukrainian airports. The relevant order was signed by the Deputy Prime Minister for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, Minister Oleksii Kuleba.
The new group will operate as an advisory body to the Ministry of Development. Its task is to develop proposals for the resumption of civil aviation flights and the safeguarding of critical infrastructure in the sector.
The working group will hold meetings both in person and online, and will prepare recommendations for the ministry’s leadership on the resumption of operations at Ukrainian airports following the full-scale invasion and the protection of civil aviation infrastructure.
The group is headed by Serhiy Derkach, Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development. He will also be able to involve representatives of central executive bodies, local authorities, enterprises, institutions and organisations whose remit covers the issues to be considered by the group.
The working group comprises Serhiy Batechko, Deputy Director of the Department of Civil Protection and Preventive Activities and Head of the Fire Safety Prevention Division at the State Emergency Service; First Deputy Head of the State Agency for Infrastructure Restoration and Development of Ukraine Mykola Boiko, Deputy Commander of the Ukrainian Air Force Pavlo Yelizarov, First Deputy Head of the State Aviation Service Serhiy Korshuk, Head of the Aviation Infrastructure and Transport Sector at the Ministry of Development Dmytro Kushpil, Oleksiy Dubrevskyi, Director General of the State Enterprise “Boryspil International Airport”; Volodymyr Kudak, Director General of Kyiv International Airport LLC; Tetiana Romanovska, Director General of the State Enterprise “Danylo Halytskyi Lviv International Airport”; Tetyana Romanovska, Director of the State Enterprise “Ukraerorukh” Andriy Yarmak and others.
The issue of opening Ukraine’s airspace to civil aviation has been under discussion since 2023. On 1 December 2023, the Office of the President announced that Boryspil would soon be able to receive and dispatch aircraft again.
In 2024, Crispin Ellison, senior partner at insurance firm Marsh McLennan, stated at the 10th Kyiv International Economic Forum that by the end of January 2025, Ukraine could resume flights from at least one airport – Lviv or Boryspil.
At the same time, the issue of security remains key. According to Forbes Ukraine, for a plane to reach a safe zone from Boryspil, it needs to remain in the air over Ukrainian territory for around 40 minutes.
Despite this, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisted in 2024 that Boryspil should be the first to reopen. There is no specific date for the resumption of flights as yet
. However, the creation of a separate working group means that the government has officially begun preparing proposals regarding the possible reopening of Ukrainian airports.
