Ukrainian airlines saw a 40% rise in passenger transportation in January-June 2017 year-over-year, to 4.565 million people. Cargo and mail transportation fell by 9%, to 35,500 tonnes.

According to information from the State Aviation Service of Ukraine posted on its website, Ukrainian airlines serviced 42,600 commercial flights in January-June 2017 (25% more than a year ago).

Passenger flow via Ukrainian airports increased by 34.1%, to 7.145 million people.

Some 30 Ukrainian airlines serviced passenger and freight transportation by air in H1 2017. Some 18 Ukrainian airlines were involved in passenger transportation.

In January-June 2017, five leading airlines serviced 95% of passengers: Ukrainian International Airlines (UIA), Azur Air Ukraine, Windrose, Bravo and Atlasjet Ukraine.

UIA carried 24.1% more passengers than in January-June 2016, Azur Air Ukraine – 47% more, Windrose – 4.3 times more, Bravo – 4.5 times more and Atlasjet Ukraine – two times more.

"The upward pace recorded in January-June 2017 is first linked to the development of the international air transportation segment," the authority said.

Ten Ukrainian airlines serviced regular flights between Ukraine and 42 countries in January-June 2017 and 25 foreign airlines to 24 countries. Ukrainian airlines carried 2.622 million people and this was 27.6% up year-over-year, while foreign airlines carried 2.111 million people (22.5% up).

Five Ukrainian airlines serviced domestic regular flights between eight Ukrainian cities. They carried 423,300 passengers (22.6% up).

Some 20 Ukrainian airports serviced commercial flights of Ukrainian and foreign airlines in January-June 2017. The number of aircraft serviced over the period reached 72,200 (24.7% up year-over-year).

Around 98% of total passenger flow and cargo flow are focused in leading airports – Boryspil, Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia.

The Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise (UkSATSE) serviced 110,300 flights compared with 92,400 a year ago. The number of flights performed by Ukrainian airlines' aircraft and helicopters grew by 27.2% and by foreign airlines – by 14.8%.