12:49 12.07.2017

Talks between Ryanair, Boryspil airport doomed to fail after fixing passenger fee at $7.50

2 min read
Talks between Ryanair, Boryspil airport doomed to fail after fixing passenger fee at $7.50

The negotiations between the largest low cost airline in Europe Ryanair (Ireland) and the Boryspil International Airport (Kyiv) on financial issues were doomed to fail after fixing the passenger fee at $7.50 reflected in a memorandum signed by the Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine and the airline's top managers, the Boryspil airport has said, presenting its official position on the negotiations.

"The fee with the economic entity – Boryspil airport – was not agreed from the point of its feasibility and non-discriminative behavior towards other contractors of the airport," the airport said.

The airport recalled that with the purpose of satisfying the Ryanair's demands the passenger fee was cut from $17 to $13 for all airlines. This is a shortfall of UAH 360 million every year for the airport. The fee is set in an order of the Infrastructure Ministry.

"The $7.50 per passenger fee expected by Ryanair cannot be set without amending it," the airport said.

The airport also changed the requirement for public offer with 80% discount from the basic passenger fee for new destinations.

"We officially affirm that the conditions of the Boryspil airport's stimulating program are open, public, transparent and such that all airlines that are interested in flights from Boryspil can take advantage of. The Boryspil airport is ready for any audit of the negotiation process with the Ryanair airline," the airport said.

Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan said on his Facebook page that the airport is government owned, the terminals were built using taxpayers' funds. These terminals aren't working, while the airport spends UAH 250 million per year on maintaining each of them.

"Regarding Ryanair's demands, no top-level, world-scale business has any intention of doing charity work in Ukraine. Businesses make money. That's what they are for. The reason why Ryanair is the largest and cheapest airline in Europe is its ability to fight for optimal conditions," the minister wrote.

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