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It was supposed to be a success for Ukraine’s pro-western leadership: a deal with Ryanair to enter the market with flights to Kiev and the western city of Lviv. It would have helped Ukrainians take advantage of the visa-free travel they were recently granted by the EU — and shown that Ukraine, 3 years on from its pro-democracy revolution, is ready to attract much-needed investment. Instead, the opposite happened. Ryanair last month cancelled its plans, accusing Kiev’s main Boryspil airport of “failure to honour a growth agreement”. In a blow to the authorities, Ryanair’s CCO David O’Brien said that the airport had “demonstrated that Ukraine is not yet a sufficiently mature or reliable business location to invest valuable Ryanair aircraft capacity”. <br/>

Ryanair has doubled its connecting flights at Milan Bergamo from 25 to 50 routes, marking the latest step in a wider expansion in Ryanair-to-Ryanair connections. Ryanair began offering connecting flights from Rome Fiumicino in May, meaning passengers can through-book Ryanair flights and transfer airside without collecting their bags. Expanding the offer Aug 16, Ryanair announced 25 additional connecting routes that include Hamburg, Porto, Bratislava, Budapest, Prague, Thessaloniki and Vilnius. More connections will be rolled out at other airports across the Ryanair network later this year, Ryanair CCO David O’Brien said. He added the service makes the Italian regions more accessible. This is particularly relevant, given Alitalia’s current difficulties. <br/>