Flights to Kiev from mid November
Photo: Ilan Levy
Arkia to offer flights to Ukraine
Tel Aviv-Kiev line to be operated twice a week; basic flight ticket to cost $399. Arkia CEO: Service has a potential of 40,000 passengers a year
The Arkia airline will start operating regular flights to Ukraine from Mid November. The line will be operated twice a week on Embraer and Boeing planes, which will land at the Kiev airport.
Ynet has learned that a basic flight ticket on the Tel Aviv-Kiev line will cost $399.
"We received the flying rights from the Israeli side a year and a half ago," Arkia CEO Gadi Tepper told Ynet. "It took us a long time to receive the approval from the Ukrainians, and a year and a half later we received the flying rights.
"The bureaucratic problems were solved thanks to the intervention of the Aviation Authority and the Transport Ministry's director-general, and we would like to thank them. Arkia believes in such a destination, which has interesting demands and in which we can succeed."
You filed the request before the global financial crisis began, and since then there have been significant changes in the tourism industry worldwide.
"True, but the combination of foreign tourists coming to Israel, visits to Ukraine by Israeli families and businesspeople and the activity of haredi elements led us to estimate that we can meet the public's needs, and at the end of the day this line will be profitable for Arkia."
What is the potential of this line?
"According to our analysis, we are talking about some 40,000 passengers a year, 25,000 of whom are tourists from Ukraine. It should be noted that there is a potential of about 10,000 haredi passengers a year, not including those traveling to Uman at the start of the Jewish New Year. "
Tepper believes that the frequency of flights on the Tel Aviv-Kiev line will increase within several months.
