A meeting between Deputy Minister Sergey Derkach and the management of airBaltic was held at the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine. The visit of the Latvian carrier’s representatives, including First Vice President Tomas Ramdahl and Vice President for Network Development Mantas Vrubljauskas, was devoted to discussing the prospects for resuming flights to Ukraine. The Ambassador of Latvia to Ukraine Ilgvars Klava also took part in the negotiations.
The main focus was on the current state of civil aviation, the retention of aviation personnel, the maintenance of airport infrastructure and the functioning of air navigation. A special place was given to the discussion of the Risk Assessment – a document minimizing threats during the partial opening of airspace. AirBaltic emphasized its readiness to return to Ukraine as soon as security allows, recalling that before the full-scale invasion, it actively operated in key Ukrainian airports and carried almost 220 thousand passengers in 2019.
“We are committed to being the first airline to resume flights to Ukraine when it is safe to do so. The visit to Kyiv was another step towards this, and preparations for the return are already in full swing,” said Thomas Ramdahl.