Atlasjet UA (Lviv) is to appeal a Kiev District Administrative Court ruling which bars it from operating international flights. The case pertained to the validity of traffic rights the Ukrainian Ministries of Infrastructure and Transport had issued the carrier back in July.
Atlasjet UA argued that despite the issuance of traffic rights to serve 14 international destinations, the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine (SAAU) refused to sanction the carrier's permit in time for its planned September launch. In its ruling, however, the court sided with the SAAU which had argued that only it, not the ministries, was authorized to grant traffic rights as mandated by Ukrainian law.
"This decision confirms that airlines cannot ignore the provisions of the Air Code of Ukraine, which is the highest legal authority in the country, as compared to those orders issued by the Ministry," Judge Yulia Dmitrieva said.
According to Kiev's Capital newspaper, an enraged Atlasjet UA disowned the verdict stating that the case never once called into question the country's aviation legislation, which does not clearly specify which entity is responsible, in absolute, for the ultimate allocation and approval of traffic rights.
With the issuance of its Air Operator's Certificate in June, the Atlasjet Airlines (Antalya) subsidiary had set a September 15 launch date for flights connecting Kyiv Boryspil, Chernivtsi, Lviv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Odesa, and Kherson domestically as well as Berlin Tegel, Prague Václav Havel, Moscow Sheremetyevo, St. Petersburg, Naples Capodichino, Istanbul Atatürk, Yerevan, and Madrid Barajas regionally.
