Airlines of the Russian Federation saw larger loss since the moment of the flight and transit ban between Ukraine and Russia compared with Ukrainian airlines, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan has said.

"Russian airlines saw larger loss, while the contrary opinions were earlier announced. We see a sharp rise in flights in Ukraine in the past two years – during the period when air communication embargo with Russia and transit of Russian planes is in effect," he told reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Omelyan said that over this period Ukraine has turned the Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) into a hub. If earlier many people flied to Moscow or other Russian cities to fly, for example, to Asia, now they fly from Kyiv or other Ukrainian cities.

"We have a vivid growth of the market: if average European growth is from 5% to 10% and sometimes 3% is considered a good figure, we have largest growth, in particular, thanks to domestic passengers, transit passengers and people started more often flying to Ukraine," the minister said.

As reported, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on September 16, 2015, enacted a decision by the National Security and Defense Council dated September 2, 2015, on individual special economic sanctions and other restraints. Russian airlines are also on the sanction list. Ukraine's government also endorsed a ban on flights by the abovementioned Russian airlines from September 25, 2015.

On September 29, 2015, Federal Air Transport Agency of the Russian Federation (Rosaviatsia) notified Ukrainian airlines of their being banned from Russian airspace starting, from October 25. The Ukrainian State Aviation Service later notified Russia that transit for all Russian planes across Ukrainian airspace is banned from November 26.