Yanair airline (Zhytomyr) seeks to expand regular flights in summer 2017 thanks to Tel-Aviv, Yanair Director General Volodymyr Sobolev has said.

"We have been assigned for Lviv-Tel-Aviv and now we are trying to have assignment for Odesa-Tel-Aviv. There are all preconditions for this. We plan to launch Chernivtsi-Tel-Aviv and Kryvy Rih-Tel-Aviv flights which the airline was assigned for. On should not forget about a sort of monopoly for the flights to Tel-Aviv, where the monopolist can set any prices and it is harder to work here," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

He also said that recently some airlines stick to low-cost airline's rules on many routes, while Yanair is a conventional airline.

"Thanks to this, for example, on the Tbilisi route, we managed to draw around 80-85% of point-to-point passenger flow. At the cost of what? At the cost of the arrival airport – Zhuliany. This is convenient, thanks to the fact that we are flying in the time convenient for passengers and that we have free food and drinks on board. We want to leave the same things on the flights to Tel-Aviv," he said.

He said that Georgia is a commercially good destination.

"Next year we were assigned for flights from Lviv to Tbilisi and Batumi. There is a flow of passengers from Georgia and Azerbaijan for this destination who traditionally come for treatment to Truskavets. In summer Georgia is viable, especially thanks to Batumi. Many passengers go there for holidays. This is a good alternative to Bulgaria and Turkey. By the way, Turkey is several kilometers far from Georgia and one can visit it without any problems [and without visas]," Sobolev said.

Asked what passengers would be on the flights to Tel-Aviv, tourists or businessmen, he said that the ratio will be 50 to 50 and maybe there will be fewer tourists.

"These are mainly people who have relatives. These are people who came from Ukraine and who lives there. For some time it was 're-export' when people started coming here and buy houses. It is expensive to live in Tel-Aviv and with Israeli pensions one can live in Ukraine. In addition, we rely on Chernivtsi in the issue where they have a group of people interested in the flights to Tel-Aviv. We want to take a small plane [Boeing 737-500] and it might fly from Chernivtsi, as the airport does not suit to larger planes," he said.

Yanair was registered in Zhytomyr on June 15, 2012. In July 2013 it received a certificate for operations. The airline is based at Kyiv Zhuliany International Airport.

At present, the company's fleet consists of three Saab 340 planes, three Airbus A320 planes, one Airbus 321, two Boeing 737-300 and two Boeing 737-400s.