Ryanair opens air gateway to Western Ukraine
Ryanair, which offers travelers from Britain and other European countries cheap air tickets to European destinations, is launching a new flight London – Rzeszów. The company itself promotes this route as a “gateway to Western Ukraine,” the BBC reports.
From Rzeszów to the Ukrainian border is half an hour. From there you can get to Lviv very quickly.
Peter Sherard, head of public relations at Ryanair, said that flights to Ukraine itself would become realistic in perhaps five to six years, when the country “becomes a member of the European Union or signs an open-skies agreement that permits flights without requiring permission from the Ukrainian government.”
“The conclusion of this agreement will change our attitude toward Ukraine,” Sherard stressed. “Most likely, we would work not with major but with secondary airports and at the same time try not to lose our efficiency,” he added, referring to the company’s possible future main routes.
Ryanair was founded in 1985 and offers transportation to European countries. This year it plans to increase the number of passengers carried to 35 million. The airline currently has 250 international routes. By 2010, Ryanair plans to increase the number of passengers to 70 million.
KLM offers Ukrainians electronic tickets
Since September 1, 2005, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has offered its passengers in Ukraine electronic tickets – a convenient alternative to paper ones, the airline’s press service reports. An electronic ticket (e-ticket) is not issued on the traditional paper form.
The Dutch airline KLM Royal Dutch Airlines began introducing electronic tickets in April 2002. Today it issues them on 90% of its routes. In the period from April to July 2005, electronic tickets accounted for 65% of all KLM tickets issued.
Transaero passengers prefer seafood
A month ago, Transaero announced the launch of a new online ticket sales system. Just recently, the first results were summed up, according to Novye Izvestia. According to the airline’s press service, 274 tickets were sold through “virtual” ticket offices during August. Revenue from sales exceeded 3 million rubles.
Interestingly, the number of Russians and residents of other countries who used Transaero’s Internet services is almost equal. The most popular destinations were: Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Astana, Odessa, and for long-haul foreign destinations – London and Tel Aviv. Especially popular are complex transfer routes such as Montreal – Moscow – Tel Aviv, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk – Moscow – London, Astana – Moscow – Kiev.
Since, when buying tickets via the World Wide Web, Transaero passengers can order up to 30 types of special meals, it was possible to identify their culinary preferences. The two most in-demand menus on board are vegetarian and one that includes seafood dishes.