On March 12, the Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry announced that the European Union had postponed signing the Agreement on Common Aviation Area with Ukraine until the EU finishes resolving an internal dispute about the definition of the territory of the agreement.
Both parties are currently taking measures to ensure that they will be prepared to sign the Agreement on Common Aviation Area, which is also known as the Open Sky Agreement, as soon as the definitional question is resolved.
The agreement will yield considerable benefits to Ukrainian passengers. Vadim Samoilenko, an expert on aviation law at Asters Law Firm, told the Kyiv Post that the implementation of the agreement “will lead to a number of positive changes in the aviation field, including increasing the number of flights and increasing airline competition. As a result, the cost of flying will be lower, and consumers will see higher quality services and airline management.
Samoilenko said the bilateral agreement will “establish common aviation standards and liberalize market relations in aviation.”
Ukraine and the EU began discussions about Ukraine joining the Common Aviation Area in 2007, but negotiations took a major step forward last November at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, when the two parties initialed the agreement. Samoilenko said that the agreement will likely be ratified and enter into force in summer 2015.
Ukrainian airlines will benefit greatly from joining the Common Aviation Area, as increased passenger traffic through Ukraine will create more investment opportunities for foreign and domestic businesses. European air carriers will also benefit: all EU airlines will be able to operate direct flights to Ukraine from anywhere in the EU.
In a press release in November, the European Commission announced that as a result of the agreement “All limitations to weekly flights between Ukraine and the EU will be removed, and free and fair competition will help the establishing of market prices for all flights.”
The Open Sky Agreement will likely stimulate the Ukrainian economy, said Samoilenko.
“We expect that OSA will promote free movement of persons and goods, [and] expand commercial opportunities, he emphasized.
Ukrainian air traffic has increased nearly fivefold since the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to the Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise, more than 534,000 flights passed through Ukrainian airports in 2013, up from 120,500 in 1993. Experts expect that these figures will continue to rise after Ukraine joins the Common Aviation Area.
In addition to increasing air traffic, Ukraine will be required to implement European safety standards, which are considerably higher than Ukrainian standards. To comply with the agreement, Samoilenko said Ukraine would have to “reconstruct its domestic airports, upgrade air traffic control systems, and liberalize ground services and fuel delivery.”
Signing the agreement may also raise Ukraine’s image abroad, and give legitimacy to the new government by proving to Europeans that post-revolutionary Ukraine is capable of instituting far-reaching reforms. As a result, Samoilenko hoped that the agreement would be a step towards European integration foe Ukraine: “signing, ratifying and implementing the agreement…will facilitate cooperation of Ukraine with EU in other fields, including the application of the Association Agreement.”
European Common Aviation Area agreements between the EU and some external countries were signed on May 5, 2006 in Salzburg, Austria. It would liberalize the air transport industry by allowing any company fomr an ECAA member state to fly between any airports in all ECAA member states (including the possibility for foreign company to provide domestic flights).
On June 9, 2006 the ECAA agreement was signed by almost all the EU members, the European community itself, Norway, Iceland, Croatia, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Slovakia and Latvia signed in later the same month, followed by Serbia and Montenegro.
