On June 28, 2021, the Council of the European Union agreed to sign a Common Aviation Area Agreement with Ukraine, as well as three other countries: Armenia, Tunisia, and Qatar.
Agreed, that the agreement for Ukraine can be applied on a temporary basis, pending the completion of all necessary procedures for its entry into force. The country has been waiting for this event since 2013 – it is about the full entry of Ukraine into the single EU airspace, with the mandatory implementation of European standards and rules in the field of air transportation. Removing market restrictions is an increase in social, economic and tourism cooperation between the EU and Ukraine.
The process of creating a common EU aviation area began in 1999. On 12 December 2006, the Council of the EU authorized the Commission to open negotiations with Ukraine. In October 2013, the text of the Common Aviation Agreement was agreed by the parties, but due to foreign policy conditions, the signing was postponed indefinitely. A provisional application does not require ratification. Following the signing, there is an exchange of notes between Ukraine and the EU on readiness for provisional application, after which the Agreement will be applied provisionally from the first day of next month.
So far in Brussels, they only say that the signing is expected in the fall, but this date can be accurately predicted until Oct. 12 – during the Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv. This means that the use of “open skies” in the most optimistic version may begin in late 2021. In practice, from the summer navigation season of 2022, airlines will have the opportunity to take advantage of the first benefits of shared airspace. And then, under the current agreement, it will be slowly ratified in 29 parliaments – the Verkhovna Rada, the European Parliament, and 27 EU member states.
Instead, the open sky creates conditions for carriers, and especially cheap airlines, to have more opportunities to open new routes, the arrival of European low-cost carriers (WizzAir and Ryanair already exist in Ukraine). The agreement creates conditions for better competition, and this, with the help of market mechanisms, leads to lower prices. In particular, due to the fact that this agreement cancels the current bilateral agreements, which fix some of the most profitable routes only for monopolists. For example, flights Kyiv – Paris and Amsterdam are divided between Ukraine International and Air France / KLM, and those companies that also want to fly this route are automatically denied, they are told that the limit is exhausted, there are no free frequencies.
The common airspace between Ukraine and the EU will be created in three stages:
– Direct routes from Ukraine to the EU and back will be liberalized for carriers from Ukraine and the EU immediately, without any additional conditions.
– The right of any airline to provide ground handling, ie handling at the airport where the company flies. For some, this may be a way to make this part of the ticket cheaper; others will have a chance to introduce additional services.
– Homework for Ukraine is to bring its aviation legislation in line with the norms that apply in other countries of the common aviation area. Only in the first stage does Ukraine have to implement 24 EU directives and regulations – for example, on certification or rules for fair distribution of frequencies and slots at airports between companies that apply for them.
After completing the tasks of the first stage, all Ukrainian flight certificates related to crew training will be automatically recognized in the EU. This can help not only pilots and airlines, for whom new opportunities will open up – this recognition is likely to be a new space for Ukrainian aviation education, which was once quite powerful.
Next is the next stage, after which airlines from the EU will also have free access to routes between the cities of Ukraine. Carriers from Ukraine will not have a similar right to work within the European Union, but will be able to freely apply for complex routes where at least one of the points will be Ukrainian (for example, Kyiv – Warsaw – Rome). Such an asymmetry of opportunities, unfortunately, was laid down at the stage of negotiations on the Common Aviation Agreement in 2012-2013. In the future, it might be expected that the Ukrainian government will try to persuade the EU to amend the agreement.
Ukrainian passengers will receive additional rights and financial guarantees, as the EU has serious protection for passengers from flight cancellations and delays, regardless of the ticket price. In particular, it is the obligation of the carrier to provide the passenger with food and a hotel if something went wrong and the flight could not depart. And if the delay is due to the fault of the airline and if it is long – the passenger must pay serious compensation, from 200 euros on short flights to 600 euros on transatlantic flights.
The EC Regulation №261/2004 should be implemented in Ukraine at the first stage. And it gives hope that Ukrainian carriers, which sometimes abuse the rights of passengers and expect serious delays, will now treat their work differently. So for passengers, “opening the sky” with the EU will definitely be beneficial, for Ukrainian airlines, it will mean additional competition and ultimately more opportunities, provided parliament will exempt VAT on domestic flights and the government will invest in the development of regional airports with private concessionaires.
Viktor Dovhan is a former deputy minister of Ukraine.
