Air fleet of rich Ukrainians

Apart from the Boeings that belong to big commercial airlines, among the thousand of aircraft registered in Ukraine are the private jets and helicopters of famous Ukrainian businessmen. Though no names of oligarchs directly appear in the State Aviation Service’s list, it’s easy to find companies linked to them.

For example, enterprises of mega-rich Ukrainians Rinat Akhmetov, Dmytro Firtash and Serhiy Taruta own private jets. Among other aircraft owners is ex-Transport Minister Yevhen Chervonenko and an offshore company connected with a Naftogaz Ukraine subsidiary’s purchase of oil drilling rigs when Yuriy Boyko was energy minister.

Two aircraft registered with the state aviation authority have ties with the president’s family, Kyiv Post research shows. One is Ruslan Tsyplakov, founder of Ferrari Team Ukraine, who participates in auto rallies with Viktor Yanukovych Jr., the younger son of Ukraine’s president. According to the State Aviation Service, Tsyplakov uses helicopter Bell 206L1 that officially belongs to his company Metal Union.

The second is Serhiy Kuzyara, adviser to the minister of energy and coal industry Eduard Stavytsky. According to Forbes Ukraine, Kuzyara has been working for Viktor Yanukovych Sr.’s older son Oleksandr since the end of 2011. This was when his company Prodaks became a notable government contracts winner. According to State Aviation Service documentation, Kuzyara is registered as the owner of the Diamond DA40 four-seat plane.

Two Agusta helicopters are used by DF Aviation, a Ukrainian company created in 2011 and affiliated with Dmitry Firtash’s Group DF. One of Group DF’s top managers, Oleg Kikta, also has his own aircraft – a two-seat ultralight Skyeton K-10 Swift.

Likewise, Metinvest, part of billionaire Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM group, owns Pilatus PC 12/47E, which can seat up to nine passengers. Meanwhile, its CEO Igor Syryi owns a small and light four-seat Diamond DA 42 NG.

Generally, corporate planes or helicopters are owned by many big companies, such as DTEK – also owned by Akhmetov, Amstor, part of Vadim Novinsky’s Smart-Holding, Obolon brewery controlled by Oleksandr Slobodyan, and Myronivsky Khliboprodukt belonging to Yuriy Kosyuk. Industrial Union of Donbas also boasts a large fleet, as its daughter company ISD Avia leases three planes and two helicopters, mostly from companies in offshore British Virgin Islands.

A Bell 427 helicopter is in use by Vipfield LLC linked to Valeriy Omelchenko, son-in-law of the late Vasyl Dzharty who headed the Crimean Council of Ministers on the peninsula.

Two Ukraine-registered aircraft belong to the London-based Globewood United LLP. Until 2012 it was owned by two British Virgin Islands companies: Milltown Corporate Services Ltd and Ireland & Overseas Acquisitions Ltd. They are well-known in connection with the purchase of oil rigs by a Nafogaz subsidiary in one of the nation’s most recent cases of large-scale corruption.  

Interestingly, two SCM’s luxurious Airbus A319 are registered in the tiny Caribbean island of Aruba, a popular offshore aircraft registration hub because of taxes. A smaller Dassault Falcon 900 jet also belongs to SCM, and also has an Aruba registration number. None of the other mainstays of Ukraine’s richest registered their private jets in Ukraine.

As Akhmetov’s press secretary Olena Dovzhenko told Kyiv Post, SCM’s sole shareholder had no private jets, but used aircrafts belonged to SCM. According to her, “current Ukrainian legislation doesn’t give opportunity for effective maintenance of non-business aviation aircrafts.” Also “complicated foreign exchange legislation does not allow making payments for services rendered in aviation quickly.”

“Besides, operational and technical support services, as well as repair, are easier to perform for an aircraft that is registered to the company, which is a non-resident of Ukraine,” Dovzhenko explained.

Registering aircrafts in different exotic places as Aruba or British Virgin Islands is one of the options offshore registration companies offer to their clients. One of them, MS Group, lists benefits of offshore registration that are somewhat different from the ones mentioned by Akhmetov’s spokesperson: anonymity, taxes decreasing, simplification of bureaucratic procedures. Besides, Aruba registration gives an access to a wide list of approved maintenance facilities for aircrafts, which might be not available in Ukraine. 

1. Ukrainian media alleged that Tsentravia has ties with President Viktor Yanukovych. The company also leases two aircraft for the president’s use and received more than Hr 6 million in 2012 from the state budget for that purpose.

2. Universal Transport Company was established by Vik System which, according to media reports, has ties with Khlib Investbud ex-director Igor Filipenko.

Photos can be found here.

Kyiv Post staff writer Kateryna Kapliuk can be reached at [email protected].