EU–Ukraine Open Skies Agreement to Be Concluded at Summit on 12 October

Ukraine and the European Union are getting ready to conclude an open skies agreement on Tuesday, 12 October, previously signed eight years ago. The ceremony will take place as part of the Ukraine–EU Summit

Interfax-Ukraine news agency reports this with reference to an unnamed representative of the European Union.

“Three agreements will be signed at the summit. The first is the Common Aviation Area agreement which, in simple terms, will improve relations between the two sides and create conditions for new commercial opportunities for airlines of Ukraine and EU member states,” he said.

The agreement should open Ukraine to some low-cost carriers, which will increase the passenger numbers and significantly contribute to the growth of Ukraine’s tourism sector.

In addition, two more agreements are expected to be signed: on Ukraine’s association to the European research and innovation funding programme Horizon Europe and the Creative Europe programme.

Recently, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna noted that the Common Aviation Area agreement with the EU would increase the number of companies in the air transportation market of Ukraine. That is, all European carriers will be able to operate direct flights to Ukraine from anywhere in Europe and vice versa. Due to growing competition, prices for flight tickets are expected to be lower, including domestic flights. In addition, the agreement will provide more opportunities for Ukrainians to use visa-free travel.

As a reminder, negotiations on the common aviation area of ​​Ukraine and the EU began in 2007. The preliminary signing of the agreement took place in 2013, but the final approval was postponed due to the incomplete process of internal coordination of the definition of “territory” in the context of the Gibraltar issue. After the UK left the EU, this issue was removed.

Bohdan Marusyak