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Financial state of UIA as stable as possible, company in dialogue with govt for first time in many years – CEO Dykhne
KYIV. Aug 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The financial condition of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) is currently the most stable and efficient: the company pays all current payments, and is in dialogue with the state, UIA CEO Yevhen Dykhne told Interfax-Ukraine.
"We pay all current payments, with the Boryspil airport we switched to prepayment. And all the problems that had accumulated until 2019 were ‘put outside the brackets’. Although, I have no moral and legal right to turn a blind eye to them. And by the way, despite the NSDC statement, which was interpreted in a slightly different manner than the essence of the problem says, and, in fact, the protocol decision of the NSDC to develop a plan of measures to stabilize the aviation industry, we are for the first time in many years in dialogue with the authorities. Both the relevant minister and all decision-making officials see in my words and actions a desire to regulate, restructure, and develop a payment plan in a civilized manner. And this finds an appropriate response," he said.
Dykhne noted that Ukraine International Airlines has been operating on the Ukrainian market for more than 20 years, and during this period the domestic aviation has accumulated a list of issues that have not been resolved for years. This is a tangle of financial and legal problems, which, in his opinion, are based on political, personal, but not economic relations between the state and UIA.
"I came to UIA at the end of 2019. My first economic decision was to close all economically unprofitable routes. Yes, Beijing, Astana, Minsk, Bangkok were closed. Yes, there were passengers whose flights were canceled, and the number of passengers’ requests increased by 6 times. But this action financially improved the company already at the beginning of 2020. And if it were not for COVID-19 and Iran, we would be super successful already in 2020," the CEO of the company said.
According to him, already in the first quarter of 2020, UIA was ahead of the approved budget by $11 million.
"Moreover, even in the crisis year of 2020, we were more efficient in terms of operating indicators than many years before. During this period, we returned $44 million to passengers, while ticket purchases were reduced to zero during some period of the acute phase of the pandemic. Already in the first half of 2021, EBITDA was fixed at UAH 1.1 billion. This is the result of the work of our team and the anti-crisis measures that we have taken. Net profit in the first half of 2021 amounted to UAH 21.7 million," Dykhne added.
As reported, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) instructed the government to settle the situation with UIA’s debts to the Boryspil airport and the State Air Traffic Service Enterprise UkSATSE.
Secretary of the Council Oleksiy Danilov noted that due to debts to UkSATSE and Boryspil, UIA may cease its work.
