Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) due to the cancelation of passenger traffic due to quarantine introduced amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) plans to carry humanitarian cargos, UIA President Yevhen Dykhne has said.
“Amid a critical decline in passenger traffic, freight, especially humanitarian freight, has become more active: many passenger aircraft are turning into cargo, adapting their passenger cabins to this. Austrian Airlines, Wizz Air, Lufthansa, Air China are already performing such flights. We’re also planning the first flight in the near term, which we will definitely accompany with taking photos and video recording,” he wrote on his Facebook page on April 3.
In addition, he also said that the fleet of Antonov was chartered for humanitarian transportation for the entire current month.
“We are happy for Antonov State Enterprise, which is fully chartered for April, as it has large Mriya and Ruslan aircraft in its fleet, which deliver goods from China throughout Europe (by the way, why Ukraine’s public logistics orders are not placed with this enterprise?),” Dykhne said.
As reported, UIA management estimates the company’s losses in 2020 at about $60 million under an optimistic scenario.
