MINSK, 14 October (BelTA) - The possible mutual flight bans that Ukraine and Russia are going to impose as from 25 October will not lead to the redistribution and cancellation of flights in Belarus, Vladimir Kostin, Director of Aviation Department at the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Belarus, told reporters.
"This will in no way affect the redistribution of flights or their cancellation. We think that we will cope with a possible increase in the traffic flow,” said the department head. He noted that the air terminal of Minsk National Airport was renovated ahead of the IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship. Now it can accommodate 5.8 million passengers per year. "Today, we have not yet reached three millions. According to our estimates, the possible increase in passenger traffic from Kiev to Moscow and vice versa will be 5 or 8% at the maximum," added Vladimir Kostin. It is possible that the aircraft on some routes will be replaced with the larger capacity planes or the frequency of flights will be increased, he said.
Vladimir Kostin pointed out that the Belarusian side "is not happy” with the relevant decisions made by Russia and Ukraine. "We would like to see a calm situation in the neighboring countries. Nevertheless, we discussed and examined how the situation may evolve should the passenger flows from Ukraine to Russia and from Russia to Ukraine go through Belarusian airports. These issues have been worked out. We are ready for the date of 25 October,” said Vladimir Kostin.
As was reported, the Belavia air company is gearing up to launch a flight from Minsk to Odessa. The company was doing some preparatory work on the Minsk-Odessa flight, undertaking an additional study into the demand for such a route. “If it happens that the air service between Russia and Ukraine is discontinued, we will launch this flight as of 25 October,” the company said. Previously Belavia was going to set up this flight in the summer of 2016.
As was reported recently, Ukraine banned flights by Russian companies to Ukraine, and also banned, partially or completely, transit flights by Russian air carriers across the country. Russia closed sky to Ukraine in response to the flight ban.
