Lords of the skies

Oligarchs, former ministers, governors and businessmen on death row: whom do Ukrainian air carriers belong to The registry of civilian aircrafts in Ukraine that have a valid license constitutes approximately a thousand vessels. Over half of them are used by air carriers which engage in passenger air transportation. INSIDER prepared a full list of their owners. Monopolist of the skies About 65% of the Ukrainian air transportation is under control of the Dnipropetrovsk oblast governor Igor Kolomoyskiy. Among his affiliated companies are Dniproavia, Roza Vitriv and Ukraine International Airlines (UIA). Before he owned another two airlines – Donbasaero and Aerosvit. However they were artificially bankrupted by the structures of Kolomoyskiy’s Privat group. According to Kommersant’s sources, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk oblast became the owner of UIA in the end of 2012, however the co-owners of the company and Kolomoyskiy himself do not confirm this fact. According to experts, this has to do with the fact that the Anti-Monopoly Committee would not have allowed him to concentrate such a significant fraction of the market. UIA, according to the State Registry, owns almost 40 aircrafts, 33 of which are Boeings. The heritage of “the Legitimate One” The airline Centravia, known for its close ties to former President Viktor Yanukovych, has not lost its licence for air transportation. The state-owned business Ukrayina rented two Agusta helicopters and VIP jet Falcon-900 from them, complete with leather interiors, plasma TV screens and climate control systems, that the former President once used. Today its owners are documented as Donetsk citizen Pavlo Kovalyov, Virginia-based Aero Holdings Limited and British Aero Holdings. In 2007 the founder of the company was Pavlo Lytovchenko, known as the trustee of Yanukovych’s family and the first co-owner of Tantalit company, which rented the land lot for the construction of Mezhygirya. According to the registry, Centravia no longer has the helicopters, only the Falcon-900 remains. Stavytskiy’s business took a turn for the better The air carrier Urga, controlled by the family of the odious former Ministry of Energy Eduard Stavytskiy, continues to work and develop with the new government. After the subsidiary of one of the biggest Russian airlines Utair-Ukraine stopped flying several internal routes in the beginning of May, its place was swiftly taken by Urga, the general director of which told Hubs that this is just the beginning and the air carrier intends to lease new aircrafts and develop prospective routes. 95% of Urga’s stocks belong to Igor Ivanchenko’s company Sirius 2013, who is tied to Eduard Stavytskiy, according to Nashi Groshi. The board of the company is headed by his father – Anatoliy Stavytskiy. The company owns thirteen aircrafts, including eight Swedish SAAB’s. “The Silk Way” for the Azerbaijani President Little-known airline Silk Way, which only has two average An-12 planes, also stood out with its ties to the first persons, however not in Ukraine, but Azerbaijan. The small company is the subsidiary of one of the biggest Azerbaijani airlines Silk Way Airlines, which is part of Silkway Holding. Radio Svoboda journalists discovered that the control stocks of all of the companies in the holding belong to the friends and family of the Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev and the President of the Azerbaijani state-owned Azal belonging to Dzhakhangir Askierov. Businessman on death row A new small airline, Yanair, appeared on the Ukrainian market in 2013. There is nothing outstanding about it, except for its owner – Russian Alexandr Yanchuk. According to Forbes, Yanchuk, together with his compatriots Yevgeniy Khrapov and Petr Ivanik was the co-owner of Eastok Avia (United Arab Emirates). In spring of 2009, after a conflict with the parters, Khrapov was killed. After two years of court cases, the Sharia court of Sharjah deemed Yanchuk guilty of murder and condemned him to death. Since then the UAE attempted to achieve the businessman’s extradition, who, according to them, is currently living in Germany. Donetsk airline Savi, which makes charter flights and provides services to businessmen, politicians and the “elite,” was founded by Liberian Tulsa International Inc. This company is also known as the founder of Energo concern belonging to former Prosecutor General Gennadiy Vasylyev and “Orthodox” oligarch Viktor Nusenkins. Besides, businessmen Dmytro Firtash, Oleksandr Yaroslavskiy and Kostyantyn Grigorishin have their own airlines – DF Aviation, Kharkiv Airlines and Konstanta respectively. Other airlines belong to lesser-known businessmen, companies and state structures. Source: INSIDER  Translated by Mariya Shcherbinina