It must have taken the secret services two days to remove a serious security threat in two airports in order to enable the air space controller to reopen the facilities. Late on Dec. 15 the State Aviation Service announced that it was reopening two of the three airports it had closed for security reasons on Dec. 13.
“The airspace in the zone of the Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv airports is open starting at 21:00 on 15.12.2014. All flights have resumed,” the State Aviation Service said in a press note.
The next line stated that “to ensure security of flights, the closure of airspace over the airport in Zaporizhya is prolonged till 6:00 on 20.12.2014.”
Natalia Teletska, a representative of the State Aviation Service’s press service, confirmed to the Kyiv Post that flights had been stopped for security reasons but said she could not divulge the specific security concern.
In Dnipropetrovsk, flights to Moscow were not expected to resume and remain banned, an airport spokesman told Interfax-Ukraine.
Curiously, neither airlines, nor other government agencies seem to be aware either of the cause for closure of the airports, or for reopening of two of them.
“We don’t have any other information except that the airports have been closed for security reasons,” Defense Ministry official said on Dec. 15 according to Interfax-Ukraine.
Domestic and charter flight operator Dniproavia made a statement on Dec. 15 also doubting publicly that either the National Security and Defense Council, or the State Security Service had any idea of the real reason for closure of the airports.
Olena Hiklianska, a representative of the State Security Service, said she had no information for the press on the matter.
Dniproavia said that the closure of three airports has been extremely disruptive for its operation. “The only airline that has been making inter-regional flights in Ukraine, before the New Year will be forced to announce bankruptcy,” Dniproavia said in a statement. “Some 400 people will be out of jobs, making an average wage of Hr 15,000.”
Some Ukrainian media speculated that the airspace was closed because of a terrorism alert that allegedly had been received from the United States, but a U.S. Embassy spokesperson denied this information.
“I’m not aware of any information the US passed to the Ukrainian government about a terrorist threat and have no reason to believe we did,” said James Hallock.
The closure represents a further blow to the already battered Ukrainians airline industry and Ukraine’s already restricted airspace. International flights to Crimea were halted after Russia annexed the peninsula in March. Airspace in the part of the country controlled by Russia-supported separatist was closed after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down on July 17, 2014, killing 298.
Experts spoken to by the Kyiv Post could not remember the last time so much of Ukraine’s airspace was shut down for so long.
“To completely close the airspace for an area they should be a serious danger to flights,” said Andriy Guck, an expert on aviation law.
According to Guck the lack of a force majeure clause means that the airlines will have to refund money to passengers while they will receive no compensation from the government. Dniproavia said it failed to transport 600 passengers in four days because of the travel ban. Ukrainian publication INSIDER credits Dniproavia belonging to Ihor Kolomoisky, governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
Many airlines have already lost access this year to once lucrative routes to the former business hub Donetsk and holiday hub Simferopol.
“It’s a serious problem for companies work in those areas. It is a question for survival,” said Guck.
