Optimistic UIA seeks to build on profitable performance

Ukraine International Airlines is preparing next year’s budget for board approval after claiming that its cost-saving measures have returned the carrier to substantial profitability after the first nine months of 2021. CE Yevhenii Dykhne took over the carrier in September 2019, a year in which it made a net profit of Hr1.65b ($59m) compared with the previous year’s loss of Hr2.7b. But after the onset of the pandemic the company’s performance suffered heavily, and its full-year net loss for 2020 amounted to more than Hr4.5b. Dykhne says, however, that the company has continued a transformation process initiated after he took over. It scrapped unprofitable routes which, he says, had generated total losses of $216m in the previous five years. Ukraine International has subsequently adopted a “hybrid” business model, raising its share of charter traffic and retaining a fleet of up to 28 aircraft – mainly Boeing 737s and Embraer regional jets – to adapt to the demand. It has cut long-haul routes and its long-haul fleet, including a Boeing 777-200ER and 767-300ERs, has been in storage. But it has preserved a two-wave operation at its main base, Kiev Borispol, in order to encourage transit traffic.<br/>