Investment-hungry Ukraine pursues troubled courtship of Ryanair

At this torrid time for Ryanair, it may surprise hundreds of thousands of inconvenienced ticket holders to know that one of Europe’s biggest countries is still craving its presence. Ukraine hoped to announce an agreement with Ryanair this summer, when the EU granted visa-free travel to its 46m citizens in one of the most tangible results of the nation’s pivot to the West following a 2014 revolution. The deal collapsed when Kiev’s Boryspil airport rejected it as economically unviable. But many Ukrainians blamed a familiar bugbear for depriving them of cheaper flights throughout a newly open Europe – a tycoon determined to protect his interests from competition, regardless of the cost to the general public. But the govt insists that Ryanair’s arrival has only been postponed, not cancelled. <br/>