newstodate.aero

Dec 03, 2021 (newstodate): After years of negotiations and preparations, Ukraine and EU  finally landed an Open Skies Agreement on October 12, 2021 - but is still not implemented.
    With the agreement in place, carriers registered in Ukraine and in any EU member country will gain free access to set up routes between any points in the countries involved, and also all limitations on capacity and frequencies will be removed.
   But while the political agreement has been inked, the parties still lack documenting the national procedures and exchanging the relevant documents that will then take effect in the following month.
   Consequently, plans by airline including Wizz Air and Vueling to expand flights in December have been postponed.
    Already within the first day after the signing, Wizz Air announced a massive expansion in the Ukrainian market, with the opening of 26 new route and the allocation of a further seven aircraft to its bases at Kiev, Lviv and Odessa.
   These plans will now have to wait until at least January  2022.
    With the agreement in place, carriers registered in Ukraine and in any EU member country will gain free access to set up routes between any points in the countries involved, and also all limitations on capacity and frequencies will be removed.   
   The process towards this end goal started on September 27, 2005, when the EU Commission proposed to open negotiations with Ukraine to develop a common aviation area. Hopes were for the process to be completed already in 2014- but later political unrest and military conflicts postponed the completion of the agreement.