"The German government regrets that the Ukrainian government is currently unable to accept Germany's proposal to settle air traffic between the two countries on the basis of 16 weekly frequencies," the statement said. As the embassy emphasizes, "the German government is interested not in restricting but in expanding air traffic."
The extension of the previously imposed restrictions "until a final agreement is reached within the framework of the envisaged consultations" is intended to "demonstrate Germany's interest in further maintaining air traffic."
In turn, as Interfax-Ukraine was told by the head of the State Aviation Safety Oversight Service of Ukraine, Vladimir Maksimov, in early December the Ukrainian side confirmed to its German counterparts its readiness, within the framework of the winter schedule (until March 31), to resume air traffic on the basis of the parity quota of 16 flights per week for each side provided for by the intergovernmental protocol on bilateral air traffic.
The Ukrainian side's proposal included lifting restrictions on aircraft types and providing night parking, but introducing restrictions of up to seven frequencies on each route.
According to the head of the state service, "in connection with the fact that the German side rejected this proposal, the Ukrainian side was forced to accept an 'ultimatum' on extending the validity of the previously introduced restrictions." As of today, the date of subsequent consultations on settling the issue with the German side has not been agreed upon, he said.
According to the intergovernmental protocol on bilateral air traffic, the parity quota for each side in bilateral air traffic is 16 flights per week, however, on the initiative of the German side, since November 4 it has been restricted to seven flights. According to a statement from the German embassy, the decision to impose restrictions was made "only after Ukraine on October 31 made it impossible to operate the daily Kyiv – Munich – Kyiv flight of Lufthansa in the previous mode."
The day before, the Ukrainian side expressed concern over the ban introduced by German aviation authorities on October 31 on the operation of flights by the airlines "Ukraine-Mediterranean Airlines" (UMAir) and "Donbass-Aero" under charter programs to Cologne, Nuremberg, and Hanover.
According to Vladimir Maksimov, the German side has repeatedly confirmed its interest in liberalizing the conditions of air traffic between the countries, based on granting an additional second weekly frequency to German Lufthansa on the Kyiv – Munich – Kyiv route. For its part, Ukraine, within the framework of liberalization of air traffic, is ready to lift restrictions on flights of the airlines of the parties by total quota, aircraft type, and flight regions, provided that no more than seven flights per week are operated on each route.
At the same time, the Ukrainian side also offered German Lufthansa the operation of one more frequency on the Kyiv – Munich – Kyiv route together with a Ukrainian carrier under a codeshare agreement with the airline "MAU".
Before the restrictions were introduced, air traffic between Ukraine and Germany was provided on the German side by airlines Lufthansa (Munich – Kyiv and Frankfurt – Kyiv), LTU (Frankfurt – Simferopol), and on the Ukrainian side by "MAU" (Kyiv – Frankfurt, Kyiv – Berlin, Simferopol – Frankfurt) and "Dniproavia" (Dnipropetrovsk – Frankfurt).
Under regular charter programs, on the Ukrainian side, flights to Germany were operated by UMAir (Kyiv – Cologne, Kyiv – Nuremberg, Kyiv – Hanover, Simferopol – Cologne, Simferopol – Nuremberg, Simferopol – Hanover) and "Donbass-Aero" (Donetsk – Cologne).
Currently, within the framework of bilateral air traffic, German Lufthansa operates seven flights weekly on the Frankfurt – Kyiv – Frankfurt route. On the Ukrainian side, "Ukraine International Airlines" operates three flights weekly on the Kyiv – Frankfurt – Kyiv route and two flights on the Kyiv – Berlin – Kyiv route, and "Dniproavia" operates two flights on the Dnipropetrovsk – Frankfurt – Dnipropetrovsk route.
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