The number of Ukrainians using aviation services will increase threefold. Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Kryklii announced today commenting on the Government's Action Program for the Internet edition The Observer.

The Minister of Infrastructure noted that the previous week the Government had approved an Action Program of the Government, which contains not a political promise but a roadmap for the areas that the Government has to adhere to, while citizens - to control.

Government Action Program in the air services sector.

The main goal: Ukrainians use air services more often and at cheaper prices.

Objectives include the following:

reducing the average cost of a ticket;

growth of passenger traffic by 60% (from 20 million to 32 million per annum);

growth in freight traffic by 20% (from 94 thousand tons to 112 thousand tons per annum);

threefold increase of Ukrainians citizens to use air services.

What are our actions to achieve the objectives?

As for the cost of a ticket, first of all, it is about domestic air transportation. Our main efforts will be directed to develop domestic aviation. We are planning to increase the share of low-cost air routes, reduce the tax burden by canceling 20% VAT on internal flights. The absurdity of the situation is that there is no VAT for international flights, but for domestic flights, it is paid.

Passenger traffic will increase by 60% due to the development of regional airports. Runway restoration will be financed by the state (we are planning to restore 7 runways), and we will work with concessionaries to develop airport complexes.

We need upgrading cargo terminals to increase freight traffic. The idea is to create specialized cargo airports.

Three times the number of Ukrainian citizens will use air services due to the cheapening of domestic air services and the resumption of activities of regional airports.

Flight safety will also not be overlooked. We have to implement a national flight safety program, open a representative office at ICAO and deepen our cooperation with EASA.

The Groysman Government's Action Program on aviation was as follows: "Ukraine's accession to the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA), increasing the number of domestic and international flights, attracting investments for the development of airport infrastructure, in particular through public-private partnership tools, determining carriers based on transparent tenders." An undeniable fact is a growth of air travel and passenger traffic through airports in 2016 - 2018 and the introduction of competition in the market with the attraction of low-cost flights. Concerning domestic flights, the Open Skies Agreement, the development of airport infrastructure and the establishment of transparent rules for carriers - the issues remain to be resolved by the existing Government.