Upon the invitation of the leaders of the Association "Airports of Ukraine" of civil aviation (AAUCA) and the airports DP MA "Boryspil" and MA "Kyiv" named after I. Sikorsky, President of ACI Europe - General Director of SEA Milan Airports Armando Brunini, and General Director of ACI Europe - Olivier Jankovec visited Kyiv. AAUCA has been a full member of ACI Europe since 2014.
Meetings, familiarization with the state of airport facilities, and discussions on further actions to preserve human and technical resources, as well as the restoration of war-damaged airport facilities in Ukraine, took place on February 16, 2024, at Boryspil International Airport. The meeting involved the leadership of AAUCA (President Petro Lypovenko, Vice-President Oleksandr Franchuk, Chairman of the Committee for Strategic Development and International Relations Oleksandr Cherepanov, Advisor Irina Hiza), the leadership of DP MA "Boryspil" headed by General Director Oleksiy Dubrevsky, the General Director of LLC "Master-Avia" (operator of Kyiv International Airport) Volodymyr Kudak, and the Head of the State Aviation Service Oleksandr Bilchuk.
Olivier Jankovec spoke about the activities of the International Airports Council over the past years, possible directions of cooperation with airports and the government of Ukraine, and his vision for the recovery strategy with financial assistance from the European Union after the end of hostilities.
President of AAUCA Petro Lypovenko and Chairman of the AAUCA Committee Oleksandr Cherepanov, in their speeches, talked about AAUCA's activities, the current state of affairs, vision, and urgent needs in the recovery of airport infrastructure and aviation. They also appealed to the leaders of the International Airports Council to provide consulting services of leading experts - members of ACI Europe in developing the development strategy of Ukraine's aviation industry and implementing normative-legal acts (NLA) in the airport sphere (Directives on ground handling admission No. 96\67, declaration of airport entities, and others). Aviation industry experts would also be grateful for the opportunity to gain practical experience in implementing NLA and organizing production in various areas of aviation directly at European airports with their financial support.
During the online meeting, the leaders of Ukrainian airports from Lviv - Tetiana Romanovska, Kharkiv - Oleksiy Ratai, and Zaporizhzhia - Oleksandr Koniakhin, participated and provided more detailed information about the state of affairs in their airports.
During the meeting, an air alarm forced all participants to move to shelters and continue their work there.
On February 17, 2024, Olivier Jankovec personally visited the I. Sikorsky Airport in Kyiv, where he familiarized himself with its infrastructure and the problems of restoring damaged objects due to military actions. He was impressed by how well the airport is maintained in operational condition with minimal financial expenses and assured that, together with European colleagues, he would do everything possible to organize assistance in this matter.
The parties exchanged expert opinions on new trends and challenges for the aviation industry. They also confirmed that today Ukraine's aviation industry is a key sector that requires the support of the government and international partners.
At the end of the meeting, AAUCA President Petro Lipovenko presented the ACI EUROPE office in Brussels with an illustrated book "UKRAINE", a book about the customs, life, diversity and identity of Ukrainians, as a reminder of his stay in Ukraine during martial law.
The AAUCA management is grateful to the heads of the capital's airports for their assistance in organising the event, which was so necessary at such a difficult time of Russian aggression in Ukraine.
