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Maryna Arsenova was out of luck and almost out of cash. When the Ukrainian passenger’s Tel-Aviv- Kyiv-Moscow AeroSvit flight on Jan. 8 was cancelled, no hotel vouchers were available and the airline’s offices at Ben Gurion International Airport were closed.

Arsenova only had enough money for another plane ticket to get back to Moscow, where she lives, but not enough for a hotel until the scheduled alternate flight.

“I knew I only had $330 and some cash in Russian rubles, and I knew this will be enough to just get the cheapest ticket for a flight in a couple of days, but how would I stay here without any money at all?” she said.

Then a stranger came to her rescue and gave her $200 for the added expenses caused by AeroSvit ’s flight cancellation. “I learned her name only after I was given the money, just imagine,” Arsenova laughs.
Yet not all of the hundreds of Ukrainians who were grounded around the world over the winter holidays were laughing about their cancelled flights.

Many stranded AeroSvit  passengers have spent a dozen hours and up to a couple of days in airports waiting for their flights to resume.

Passengers affected by AeroSvit flights delays and cancellations line up outside the airline’s offices at Boryspil International Airport to ask for compensation and hotel vouchers.

The problem is continuing: Aerosvit cancelled 11 flights out of Kyiv scheduled to depart Jan. 10 and 19 flights on Jan. 11.

Much of the turmoil started on Dec. 29 when the Kyiv Oblast Commercial Court launched court proceedings on AeroSvit’s declared bankruptcy. The company has more than $500 million in debt and a value of $187 million. More than 30 flights were then cancelled Jan. 6-Jan.10 between Kyiv and Tel-Aviv, Budapest, Prague, New York, Bangkok, Yerevan, Warsaw and many other destinations. And even more flights have been significantly delayed.

AeroSvit company officials said many airports decided to not service AeroSvit  because their officials wrongly thought the airline was declared bankrupt, whereas it had only applied for bankruptcy to reorganize assets.

AeroSvit  also denied that Boryspil International Airport and other airports in Warsaw, Moscow and elsewhere stopped providing services to the airline due to nonpayments.

“AeroSvit makes payments for services to Boryspil in full accordance with the schedule agreed with the base airport,” an AeroSvit statement released on Jan. 9 said.

The Infrastructure Ministry, meanwhile, pledged to bring the situation under control.

“All passengers that purchased (AeroSvit) tickets have to be serviced by the airline, or get compensated,” reads the ministry’s Jan. 9 statement issued after meeting with airline officials. The statement also suggests that some of the ailing airline’s flights will be taken over by its competitor Ukraine International Airlines.

Nonetheless, hundreds of passengers were stuck in airports around the world and unable to return home.

Customers said that the delays were compounded by Aerosvit’s lack of service and courtesy.
“No one warned about the flight delay in advance, so we discovered the 12-hour delay only at the check-in counter at the airport since the board indicated there was no delay in the flight,” says Nataliya Bugayova, a Ukrainian traveler from the United States, who was supposed to return to Kyiv on Jan.6 from New York.

Bugayova continued: “Thank God I had friends to stay with in New York, because they said that New York hotels no longer accept AeroSvit hotel vouchrs.” Bugayova, who returned to Kyiv on Jan 7, added that she will not fly with the airline anymore.

However, most Ukrainians don’t have much choice.

Ukrainian businessman and AeroSvit  owner Ihor Kolomoisky has virtually monopolized Ukrainian air travel, owning also Dniproavia, Donbassaero and Windrose, which combined gives him up to 60 percent control of Ukraine’s air transport market. According to Forbes Ukraine, billionaire Viktor Pinchuk has 24.99 percent of shares in AeroSvit.

Ukrainian law considers a monopolist anyone that has at least 35 percent market share.

“It is really hard to prove 35 percent market share if there are different private and legal individuals who officially own the company,” says lawyer and aviation expert Andriy Guck. “Kolomoisky doesn’t own the company personally that’s probably why he was able to pass the monopoly checks.”

Additionally, Kolomoisky controls Ukrnafta, which produces aviation fuel and has monopoly share in Ukraine’s aviation fuel market. “The aviation fuel business gives him a chance to manipulate and monopolize Ukraine’s skies even if he doesn’t reach the full monopoly in air transport,” Guck says.
AeroSvit  passengers have long complained about receiving poor service from the airline even before the bankruptcy.

“I don’t remember AeroSvit being very reliable before, they always had these delays and cancellations, but now they have just crossed the line,” says Maryna Ivashko, a Ukrainian who studies in Germany.
Ivashko came to the Warsaw airport on Jan. 6, Christmas Eve for Orthodox Christians. She had planned on being home in a couple of hours, but was told at check-in that AeroSvit no longer exists and that its assets belong to LOT airlines. Ivashko was told her plane ticket was not valid so she had to spend an additional 300 euros for another flight home.

The three affected travelers with whom the Kyiv Post spoke say they tried but never succeeded to reach AeroSvit to ask for compensation.

“In the airport we were told not to rely on that, because the company is buried in debts and simply has no money to repay our expenses,” says Arsenova. “I didn’t try much, but I believe people have spent days in the airport trying.”

AeroSvit was founded in 1994, and is based in Boryspil International Airport. The airline serves 80 routes to 34 countries including transcontinental flights. It operates a fleet of 28 aircrafts.

Hotline for AeroSvit

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has launched a hotline meant to connect Ukrainians affected by AeroSvit’s difficulties with airline representatives. Ukrainian citizens abroad are asked to contact the country’s diplomatic missions or the ministry directly via the hotline  +38 (044) 238 1657, fax  +38 (044) 253 1124 or e-mail [email protected].

Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected].