Atlasjet UA (Lviv) is planning to commence commercial operations later in May following months of legal wrangling with the Ukrainian authorities over the allocation of international traffic rights.
"At present we're submitting documents to receive permits to service charter flights and plan to start flying in May this year," Atlasjet Ukraine General Manager Sergei Podgorodetski told Interfax-Ukraine. "We're also waiting for proposals to change the procedure, under which the airline will be able to service regular flights."
Initial plans call for charter flights from Lvov, Kiev, and Odessa to popular resorts in Antalya, Tivat, Bodrum Milas, Dalaman, and Sharm el Sheikh.
According to a government press release, the AtlasGlobal (Istanbul Airport) subsidiary has been awarded scheduled traffic rights to connect Kyiv Boryspil with Odesa, Kharkiv, and Lvov domestically as well as Tbilisi, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Amsterdam Schiphol, Erbil, London Luton, Paris, Milan Malpensa, Düsseldorf, Madrid Barajas, Naples Capodichino, Minsk National, Almaty International, Astana Nursultan Nazarbayev, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion, and Yerevan internationally.
A partnership between Turkey's Atlasjet Havacilik AS, Lviv's AIS Group Ukraine, and Sergei Podgorodetski, the start-up will use a fleet of four A320-200s. In November last year, the Turks were said to have been close to finalizing a deal with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) for the purchase of "around" thirty A321ceo aircraft, fifteen of which were destined for Atlasjet UA.
Though it secured its Air Operators Certificate (AOC) from the Ukrainian authorities in August last year, the carrier's planned September launch date was thwarted by a court case in which Ukraine International Airlines (PS, Kyiv Boryspil) questioned the validity of traffic rights awarded to Atlasjet by the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. Atlasjet UA has since been operating its two A320-200s on behalf of parent AtlasGlobal in the meantime.
