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Ukraine Forms Working Group to Prepare for Reopening of Airports
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The Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine has established a specialized working group to prepare for the resumption of the country’s airport operations.
The official order was signed by Oleksii Kuleba, the Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration and Minister of Community and Territories Development on March 16.
Ukraine’s civil aviation has been completely grounded and its airspace closed to all commercial flights since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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This group functions as a consultative and advisory body under the ministry.
The primary goal of the working group is to develop specific proposals for resuming civil aviation flights while ensuring the safety of critical aviation infrastructure.
Members will meet both in person and online to draft recommendations for the ministry regarding the protection of civil aviation assets and the restart of airport activities following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Serhii Derkach, the Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development, leads the group. He has the authority to involve representatives from various government agencies, local authorities, and specialized organizations related to aviation and infrastructure.
The group’s membership includes several high-ranking officials and industry experts. Among them are Serhii Batechko from the State Emergency Service, Mykola Boiko from the State Agency for Restoration, and Pavlo Yelizarov, the Deputy Commander of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The team also features Serhii Korshuk from the State Aviation Administration, Dmytro Kushpil from the Ministry’s aviation infrastructure sector, and Andrii Yarmak, the Director of Ukraerorukh.
Leadership from Ukraine’s major airports is also represented in the group, including Oleksii Dubrevskyi, CEO of Boryspil International Airport; Volodymyr Kudak, CEO of Kyiv International Airport; and Tetiana Romanovska, CEO of Lviv Danylo Halytskyi International Airport.
Discussions regarding the reopening of Ukrainian airspace for civil aviation have been ongoing since 2023. On December 1, 2023, the Office of the President stated that “Boryspil will soon be sending and receiving aircraft again.”
In 2024, Crispin Ellison, a senior partner at the insurance firm Marsh McLennan, suggested during the 10th Kyiv International Economic Forum that Ukraine could resume flights from at least one airport—either Lviv or Boryspil—by the end of January 2025.
According to a government source cited by Forbes Ukraine, a flight departing from Boryspil would need to remain in Ukrainian airspace for approximately 40 minutes to reach a safe zone.
However, in 2024, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisted that “Boryspil should be the first to open.”
In 2024, Crispin Ellison, a Senior Partner at the insurance company Marsh McLennan, stated at the Kyiv International Economic Forum that Ukraine could have resumed flights from either Lviv or Boryspil airports by the end of January 2025.
He noted that if insurance mechanisms were secured, five or six airlines were ready to operate.
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