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Flight attendants wave just before takeoff at Kharkiv’s airport on June 2, marking the first commercial flight by the Ukraine-designed An-148 passenger aircraft. UNIAN Ukraine launches commercial use of An-148 plane; Akhmetov’s DTEK inks power deal with Belarus; State bank bailout plan delayed by debt; Boryspil airport gets fresh funds from Japan; Hypermarket chain unveils expansion plans.

Ukraine launches commercial use of An-148

The first commercial flight of the Ukraine-designed and -built An-148 jet landed in Kyiv’s Boryspil airport on June 2, carrying passengers from Kharkiv. Passengers and the plane were greeted by Josyp Vinsky, Ukraine's transportation minister, who has pledged to provide more state funding to prop up the country’s aviation industry. Ukraine has designed some promising new aircraft since independence, but has struggled to land sales which are needed to fund large-scale production.

Officials said the An-148 plane will through a leasing agreement handle domestic flights for leading domestic air carrier Aerosvit, which has pledged to buy ten planes within three years.

Ukrainian officials said they plan to produce at least three new An-148 planes this year and many more in the future. Eventually, the An-148 and other new Ukrainian airplanes under development are to replace outdated Soviet-built planes such as the An-24 and Yak-42, which are still in use by domestic carriers.

Officials say they currently have about 50 orders for the An-148 plane from clients in Ukraine, Russia and developing countries. Four An-148 are scheduled to be built this year by Russia’s Voronezh factory.

The An-148 can carry 68-85 passengers on flights with a distance of 2,000-4,400 kilometers. It was designed by Kyiv-based Antonov design bureau, and built by Kharkiv Aviation Factory. These companies, along with Kyiv’s Aviant factory and Zaporizhya’s Motorsich turbine factory form the foundation of Ukraine’s aviation industry.


Akhmetov’s DTEK inks power deal with Belarus

Skhidenergo Ltd (a.k.a. Vostokenergo), part of Donetsk-based Donbas Fuel-Energy Company (DTEK) owned by Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, has inked an agreement to export electricity to Belarus. The agreement, made public on May 28 by DTEK’s press service, was signed with Belarus' MG-Motor on May 19, 2009. According to DTEK, the agreement involves the supply of 250 Megawatt of Ukrainian electricity via export contracts to Belarus.

Akhmetov’s DTEK and other Ukrainian companies have also recently stepped up efforts to boost electricity exports to other neighboring countries, including Hungary and Poland. Sources said other leading Ukrainian businessmen with interests in the electricity export business include billionaire Vitaliy Hayduk, currently serving as energy advisor to Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Companies related to Dmytro Firtash, who in previous years controlled the supply of natural gas from Russia and Central Asia to Ukraine, have also had an interest in the lucrative business of exporting electricity out of Ukraine.


State bank bailout plan delayed by debt

The National Bank of Ukraine has selected Ukrgazbank (#17 by assets in Ukraine as of end-March) Rodovid Bank (#20) and Kyiv Bank (#40) for priority recapitalization, Dragon Capital said in a report.

The central bank estimated the three banks’ combined capital needs at Hr 9 billion ($1.2 billion). The government is now to give the final go-ahead to their recapitalization and approve individual capital injections for each bank, with the recapitalization process expected to take two months.

However, the recapitalization of Rodovid Bank may be delayed due to the bank’s unsuccessful debt restructuring talks with Cargill Financial Services. Cargill’s refusal to prolong its $6 million loan to Rodovid, which is already overdue, complicates the bank’s talks with other lenders to restructure a $17 million syndicated loan, Dragon Capital added.

Plans by the government to bail out seven or eight of the country’s largest and most troubled banks have suffered repeated delays. Some banks, like Rodovid, are struggling to restructure their external debts, a precondition for state recapitalization aid.

Dragon Capital said the government confirmed it did not plan to recapitalize Nadra Bank until the bank restructured its external debts, currently totaling about $1 billion. Meanwhile, owners of two other banks, Finance & Credit and Imexbank, have reportedly refused to relinquish majority stakes to the state in return for bailouts.


Boryspil airport gets fresh funds from Japan

State-owned Boryspil airport has received a fresh tranche of Hr 106 million ($14 million) from a $180 million loan granted in 2005 by JBIC, Japan Bank for International Cooperation. The funds, part of a 30-year loan with a 10-year grace period, are being used to reconstruct the airport and build a new terminal.

Construction and modernization of Kyiv's main airport has been underway for years, though temporarily delayed due to a dispute over land rights with other companies seeking to build new terminals. Plans envision construction of a brand new terminal capable of handling 1,000 passengers per hour, a new building and a five-story parking.

In May, Ukraine’s government awarded Turkey’s Dogus Insaat with the contract to construct the brand new D terminal at the airport. Three terminals currently operate at Boryspil airport. Terminal A handles domestic flights. Terminal B, the largest, is responsible for international flights. Terminal C is set aside for government officials and important delegations visiting Ukraine from abroad, such as officials representing foreign governments.


Hypermarket chain unveils expansion plans

Kyiv-based Nova Linia, a construction materials hypermarket chain founded in 2000 by Ukrainian businessmen along with Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital, plans to launch the construction of brand new retail outlets in Sevastopol, Bila Tserkva and Mykolayiv in 2009, Interfax-Ukraine reported citing Oleh Shandar, chairman of the company's board.

Nova Linia is currently securing permission for the construction of the facilities, he added.

All the three hypermarkets are to be completed in 2010. Construction of the new hypermarkets, each with an average area between 10,000 – 18,000 square meters, takes about six months, Shandar added. Moreover, Nova Linia is scheduled to open two new hypermarkets this year, one in Kherson and one in the Bucha region of Kyiv. The cost of opening these two new hypermarkets is about $27 million.

Currently the Nova Linia chain includes 13 stores. Two are located in Kyiv. Two more are located in the Kyiv region, in Boryspil and Chabany regions. The rest are located in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Zaporizhya, Lviv, Lutsk, Simferopol, Kremenchuk, and Uzhgorod.