Kiev - The German low-cost airline Germanwings intends to
open two new routes to the former Soviet republic Ukraine, the
Interfax news agency reported Thursday.
Oleksander Davydov, a Ukraine Transport Ministry spokesman,
confirmed Germanwings had applied to operate aicraft along the routes
Kiev-Berlin and Kiev-Cologne.
'We are considering the (Germanwings) application,' Davydov said.
The report came three days after Ministry of Transport officials
announced they were in discussions with an unnamed German low-cost
air carrier to become the second low-cost airline servicing Ukraine.
Currently only one low-cost airline, Hungarian Whizz Air, is
registered to operates flights into and out of Ukraine. The first
Whizz Air flight is expected this month.
A Transport Ministry decision on allowing a second low cost
carrier, most likely German, into the Ukrainian market will come by
early July, according to the report.
Talks are in progress between the Ukrainian government and an Arab
low-cost carrier as well, Transport Ministry officials said.
Cologne-based Germanwings was founded in 2002 and has a fleet of
27 Airbus aircraft. Its main routes are to East and West Europe.
Ukraine's air passenger market has grown dramatically in recent
years, with an estimated 30 per cent expansion projected for 2008
alone.
The highly-regulated sector currently currently is dominated by a
Ukrainian airlines charging rates some three times ticket prices
offered by budget carriers over similar distances.
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