Ukraine International Airline (UIA, Kyiv) is open for talks with Swissport International Ltd (Switzerland), one of the largest providers of ground and cargo services to the aviation sector, to settle issues according to the law, reads a statement of the company published on Tuesday, Oct.8.
“A constructive dialog is possible only if Swissport makes an apology to UIA for slander and denies those groundless accusations that were put forward against the airline and its shareholders, that were covered and are still covered in media reports during the whole court hearing between the former partners,” reads the report.
UIA accuses Swissport of attempting to involve state agencies of Ukraine and the European Union in settling the conflict, while state agencies are not supposed to be involved in court proceedings if they are not sides in a case.
“Open statements of representatives of Swissport that the company has well-informed sources in Ukrainian courts who give them confidential information give grounds to apply to the Prosecutor General’s Office by UIA’s lawyer with an application on the investigation into the said facts, which have every sign of corruption,” the airline said.
UIA said that the European Commission has declared its position of non-interference in the conflict.
“Nevertheless, Swissport has not stopped making attempts to influence on diplomatic relations between Ukraine and the European Union, openly threatening failure in the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU and the agreement on the Single European Sky,” the company said.
As for operations of Interavia, UIA said that the company started operating stably and court litigations will not affect its operation.
As reported, on October 2, 2013, the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine canceled a ruling, under which Swissport International Ltd. from April 27, 2013 lost ownership rights to Swissport Ukraine LLC, the control over which was transferred to UIA. The case was sent for a repeated hearing by the court of first instance.
Swissport International entered the business in 2006, after acquiring a stake in its handling agent, when UIA was under state control.
In December 2012, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine permitted UIA to buy the stake in the share capital of Swissport Ukraine.
Swissport said that on March 27, 2013 the Ukrainian court ruled that UIA is to buy a 70.4% stake in Swissport Ukraine for just $400,000, while the real value of the company is $25-30 million.
Swissport International Ltd. provides ground services for around 118 million passengers and 3.5 million tonnes of cargo a year on behalf of some 650 client-companies in the aviation sector. With a workforce of around 40,000 personnel, Swissport is active at 181 stations in 37 countries on five continents, and generates annual consolidated operating revenue of CHF 1.9 billion.
