Ukraine International Airlines (Kyiv) has increased the number of its weekly flights from 290 to 330 in the 2008/2009 winter timetable that came into effect on October 26.

The press service of International Airlines of Ukraine announced this to Ukrainian News .

«The number of flights during the 2008/2009 winter period is 330 per week, compared with 290 flights during the corresponding period of 2007/2008,» the press service said.

In particular, the frequency of Ukraine International Airlines’ own Kyiv-Vienna flights has increased to 13 per week through the addition of a second flight on Saturdays.

The number of flights that the company operates between Kyiv and Vienna in conjunction with its partners has reached 27 per week (four per day).

Moreover, the company intends to operate flights between Vienna and Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Lviv, Odesa, and Kharkiv, thus increasing the total number of flights between Ukraine and Austria to 65 per week.

The company has added Kyiv-Milan flights to its timetable for the first time.

The company will also continue its weekly flights from Lviv to Rome and Naples from October 2008 to March 2009.

It will operate Kyiv-Rome flights five times per week and the change of the time of departure from the Boryspil international airport will improve opportunities for connecting flights at Rome’s Fiumicino airport airport.

The number of flights that the company operates between Kyiv and Amsterdam in conjunction with its partners will total 21 per week (three per day). It will operate the same number of flights between Kyiv and Paris.

The frequency of Kyiv-London (Gatwick airport) flights will increase to 10 per week, compared with eight last winter.

The company will operate two flights on this route per day on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

The company also plans to operate Kyiv-Brussels flights every day, except on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

It will increase the number of Kyiv-Dubai flights from three to four per week.

The number of domestic flights that the company will operate in conjunction with its partners also increased in the winter timetable.

The company’s Vice President for Sales and Marketing Serhii Fomenko believes that the increase in the number of flights against the backdrop of the current financial crisis is a positive trend.

«The Ukrainian air transport market is continuing to demonstrate a record rate of growth for Europe. The fall in the world price of fuel should also be noted as one of the positive factors for the company’s business,» Fomenko said.

The company is forecasting that its passenger transport volume will increase by an average of 14% during this winter.

The winter timetable is valid until March 28, 2009.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Ukraine International Airlines’ passenger transport volume increased by 53,000 or 10.66% to 550,000 passengers in the July-September period of this year, compared with the corresponding period of last year.

The company reported a net profit of UAH 41.893 million for the year 2007, when its net revenues increased by UAH 332.91 million or 36.12% to UAH 1.255 billion compared with 2006.

The state owns 61.6% of the shares in Ukraine International Airlines (the State Property Fund manages these shares), Austrian Airlines owns 22.5%, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development owns 9.9%, and the Aer Cap leasing company (Ireland) owns 6%.