Ukrainian air passenger traffic growth accelerates

Passenger flow at the largest Ukrainian air gateway, Kyiv Boryspil International Airport, increased by 11% during January and February 2016 (Photo by Boryspil International Airport)

In the first two months of 2016, the passenger flow carried on Ukrainian airlines increased by 8.5%, as compared to the same period in 2015. According to the data of the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine, 813.4 thousand passengers were served by Ukrainian operators during this period. With the growth of international traffic amounting to 4.6%, Ukrainian airlines in total served 712.5 thousand passengers on international routes.

Ukrainian airports showed a bit slower increase of passenger flow. In January and February 2016, they served a total of 1.418 million passengers, an increase of 6.4% over the previous year. The growth of passenger traffic on international lines amounted to 2.6%—1.211 million passengers were served by Ukrainian airports.

The largest Ukrainian air gateway, Kyiv Boryspil International Airport, served 984 thousand passengers (an 11% increase) in the first two months of 2016. The passenger flow increase at this airport has been explained by the successful implementation of the hub model; the number of transfer passengers rose 1.5 times year-on-year.

In January 2016, Ukrainian airlines’ traffic growth stood at 1.9%. The passenger traffic increase was recorded on domestic routes only, while on international routes this figure dropped by 1.2%. Gains in passenger flow at Ukrainian airports amounted to about 1%, which was also due to the traffic increase on domestic routes.

At the end of 2015, the total passenger flow of Ukrainian airlines and airports decreased by 3% and 2% respectively, as compared to 2014.