Ukrainian airlines’ passenger growth slowed in 2019

Some 24.34 million passengers travelled through Ukrainian airports last year, an 18.5 per cent improvement on 2018’s results (Kharkiv airport)

Ukraine’s airlines collectively carried 13.72 million passengers last year, a 9.5 per cent increase over 2018 traffic results, according to preliminary data supplied by the country’s State Aviation Administration. Growth in the country’s airline passenger numbers slowed in 2019 compared to an 18.7 per cent improvement in the year before.

Of this, the bulk of 12.56 million passengers travelled internationally, up 9.7 per cent year-on-year, whilst domestic traffic climbed by 7.4 per cent to 1.16 million passengers in the period.

According to the State Aviation Administration, some 24.34 million passengers travelled through Ukrainian airports last year, an 18.5 per cent improvement on 2018’s results, a reflection of foreign airlines activity in the country. The international segment accounted for 21.99 million passengers (up 19.8 per cent year-on-year). The number of domestic passengers, at 2.341 million, is in fact double the actual figure, as each domestic passenger is counted twice, as a departure from one Ukrainian airport and as an arrival at another. The growth rate in domestic segment is reported at 7.5 per cent.

The 2019 list of Ukraine’s top-seven largest airports by traffic is as follows:
Kyiv Boryspil: 15.26 million (+21.1%)
Kyiv Zhulyany: 2.62 million (-6.9%)
Lviv:   2.22 million (+38.8%)
Odessa: 1.69 million (+17.1%)
Kharkiv: 1.34 million (+40%)
Zaporizhye: 434,000 (+8.4%)
Dnipro: 338,900 (+13.3%)