After Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky told Piers Morgan he is ready to negotiate a ceasefire with Putin, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has doubled down on promises made in 2023 to return to Ukraine within days of the reopening of Ukrainian air space.
Saying that he hopes an agreement will be reached this year, O’Leary told The Telegraph that he stands ready to restart operations in the Eastern European country within 6 weeks of the ceasefire. “Ultimately it will need some kind of ceasefire because EASA won’t allow anything to fly over there unless they have some kind of reasonable certainty that there won’t be missiles flying,” he explained.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) closed Ukraine’s airspace due to “military activities which result in safety risks for civil aircraft. In particular, there is a risk of both intentional targeting and misidentification of civil aircraft. The presence and possible use of a wide range of ground and airborne warfare systems poses a high risk for civil flights operating at all altitudes and flight levels.”
In the meantime, O’Leary said Ryanair is prepared to re-route five aircraft based at different cities across Europe, to Lviv and Kyiv as soon as EASA gives the go-ahead. “We want to be the first airline back into Ukraine, and we have a plan to run about 25 routes to and from Kyiv and Lviv within six weeks of the sky reopening,” the CEO explained, adding that the six-week timeframe is needed “just to fill those flights.”
We have about 14 million Ukrainians dispersed all over Europe. They haven’t seen their friends and families for three years because of this illegal invasion by Russia.
Michael O’Leary, Ryanair CEO
Commenting on the sate of the airports, O’Leary said that while Odessa has been damaged, Lviv and Kyiv stand ready to re-open. “They run the baggage carousel in Kyiv every week to make sure that everything is working – they’re ready to go,” he said.
In summer 2023, Ryanair also announced $3 billion investment plan in rebuilding Ukraine’s aviation industry. At the time, the airline, the Government of Ukraine and the country’s main airports, committed to a rapid rebuild of Ukraine’s aviation, the carrier pledging to base up to 30 new Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, worth $3 billion, at the 3 main airports in the country, giving Ukrainian citizens and visitors access to low fare air travel as Ukraine rebuilds its economy in a post invasion environment.
