The source: “Business.ua”
The market remains unattractive for the carriers despite the optimistic statistics.
Ukrainian industry of passenger air transportation shows the growth during three quarters. Ukrainian airline companies have carried 25% more passengers in comparison with the similar period last year.
There are two main reasons for such growth: “Ukraine International Airlines” (UIA) transfer flights and the surge of the charter flights to Turkey.
Transport operations of Ukrainian airline companies are growing due to the UIA airline company (takes more than 70%) and that network model it has been developing for some years. Transfer passengers arriving by the international flights to the Boryspil Airport and changing UIA planes there take up to the half of the passenger traffic flow instead of the Ukrainian passengers. That is why the airline company attracts foreign passengers.So, the growth of this segment has not any attitude to the state of local market and the country’s economy, and based on the foreign passenger traffic.
The second factor is a charter segment. This year Turkey provided very attractive prices for the holidays for Ukrainian tourists. The absence of the vacationers from Russia, the number of terrorist attacks and the coupd’etat attempt scared the tourists from other countries and lead to the fact that Turkish tour operators had to increase their resorts’ occupancy rate at any cost. The hotels engaged in predatory pricings, and the airports provide unprecedented discounts to the airline companies.
So, this summer the traffic in Turkey reduplicated in many Ukrainian airports. It is more likely that is a single effect. If there are no motivators of such a kind next tourist season, the costs of the package tours (in dollars) will return to previous levels, and the most Ukrainians can’t again afford such trips.
In general, the Ukrainian air transportation market remains unattractive for the carriers. This is evidenced first by the fact that new airline companies do not hurry to enter our market. And those ones who had flied to us earlier but reduced the flights in recent years resume them carefully. The aviation is essentially very reactive. It depends on the economic state, effective demand and business and citizens expectations. It is very difficult with it now.
In September, the air transportation rates of growth will start slightly decrease, as the mass holiday season in Turkey is running out. Of course, the common traffic indexes will grow (or probably will renew as the competitive base of last year is the level of 2008). It will be not at the local market cost and Ukrainian citizens’ flights, but due to foreign passengers from other countries.