You're reading: Airport stores, eateries shut down by officials

To the surprise of airline passengers flying out of Ukraine, most duty-free shops and cafes beyond passport control at the nation’s main airports have been shut down by authorities in recent days.

Many thirsty passengers hoping to get a last drink or bite, or to buy duty-free gifts before boarding their planes at Kyiv’s main airport Boryspil, have  left empty-handed since Sept. 1. That’s when authorities first started shutting down duty free stores and eateries at the main terminals B and D.

For unexplained reasons, duty-free stores and restaurants at Boryspil’s terminal F were left operating as usual. But in the days that followed, authorities cited customs violations as a reason to shut down most duty-free stores and food venues at the nation’s other main airports, in Donetsk, Odesa, Lviv and Simferopol, as well as Kyiv’s Zhulyany.

The controversial shutdowns were explained by Kyiv Oblast prosecutors, who admitted to uncovering customs violations, but denied shutting down the venues themselves.

“We found that several Customs Service officials broke the law in overseeing the duty-free shops in Boryspil airport. Some of the shops had expired lease contracts. Others occupied more space then they had in their agreement,” said Svitlana Sudak, spokesperson for the Kyiv Oblast Prosecutors Office.

Sudak stressed that prosecutors did not shut the shops down, but only notified Ukraine’s Customs Service who, in turn, made this decision.

As of Sept. 6, the bureaucratic mess appeared to have spiraled out of control.

“The Customs Service started their own check of duty-free shops in other international airports and found the same violations,” Sudak said.

According to a Customs Service press release, a new procedure that will give “permissions for duty-free shops” is in the works at all airports. Lack of adherence to Ukraine’s recently adopted customs rules was identified in the statement as a reason for the problems.

But Maria Belova, spokesperson for ANP Duty Free, one of the companies that runs duty-free shops in Ukraine’s international airports, described the shutdowns as unnecessary.

“We had all documents ready two months ahead of time. We knew we had to sign a new contract. The Customs Service confirmed they received all documents from us but then they just did not process them. Now all our shops in Boryspil, Zhulyany, Kharkiv, Chernivtsi and other international airports are shut down,” she said.

Airline experts were baffled by the extreme way in which authorities handled the situation.
“Some of these airports, like Lviv and Boryspil, are state-owned. So, the shutdown of shops and cafes affects not only passengers and private companies that run these businesses but causes loses for state budget as well,” said Oleksandr Mironenko, editor of airline news website avianews.com.

As of Sept. 6, it remained unclear when the nation’s airport shops and cafes would be up and running normally.

“First we were told the shutdown will be for couple of days only. Now they say it may last up to 10 days,” ANP Duty Free’s Belova said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at [email protected].