Ukraine, Uzbekistan announce joint flights

NEW YORK - The Ukrainian national airline Air Ukraine and Uzbekistan Airways have reached an agreement on joint flights between New York and Kyiv and then continuing to the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent. This will be the only non-stop connection between the U.S. and Ukraine.

An official release sent on March 3 by Mykola Kravets, general representative of Air Ukraine in the U.S., and Alexey Yaitskyi, general representative of Uzbekistan Airways in the U.S., noted:

"This is one of the first examples of mutually beneficial cooperation between the national carriers of the CIS participating countries, which coincides with the worldwide spirit of airline integration.

"This agreement is of mutual interest to both sides - Air Ukraine has finally been given an opportunity to replace on this reroute the aging aircraft, IL-62-M, and Uzbekistan Airways will have access to the Ukrainian and American passenger and cargo markets.

"The flights will be operated by new long-range aircraft, Boeing 767-300-ER, with joint crew of both airlines.

"The start-up of this new service is scheduled for April 2, with an initial frequency of two flights weekly, and frequency increasing in June. There will be three classes of service in flight: first-class, business and economy.

"Air Ukraine is planning to receive its own Boeing aircraft later this year, but the joint undertaking of two national airlines can be continued in order to ensure daily flights from New York.

"Taking into consideration the geographical locations of Kyiv and Tashkent, this fruitful cooperation of two airlines has in itself a great reserve of future opportunities - code-sharing flights from Kyiv via Tashkent to Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, Singapore and other cities in Southeast Asia, as well as to Australia with its large Ukrainian community."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 7, 1999, No. 10, Vol. LXVII

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