Cancellation of Aerosweet's licence cause problems between Ukrainian and Greek authorities

Published: 7/28/1999

The Department of Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Transport of Greece has cancelled the license granted to the Ukrainian airline Aerosweet for flights to Greece almost ending air traffic between the Ukraine and Greece. When the bilateral agreement between the Ukraine and Greece was concluded in December 1997. Aerosweet was given the licence as the official Ukrainian carrier continuin its flights to Greece started in April 1994. The decision to cancel Aerosweet"s flights is reported to be connected with compensation claims for the relatives of the victims of the crash of an Aerosweet Yak-42 near Saloniki in December 1997. Aerosweet has reportedly expressed its readiness to pay compensation under the international compensation rules, but the victims' relatives filed complaints to increase the amount of compensation and the Greek courts have yet to make a decision. The decision to cancel the license in the middle of the tourist season has not been well received by the Ukrainian authorities and is due to be discussed by the Ministers of Transport in Greece at the end of July, although the meeting has been postponed once already from July 23rd. The Ukrainian authorities have requested that the flights continue while the respective governments sort out the problems. Air Ukraine is reported as swapping routes with Aerosweet and providing a Tu-154 service from Kiev to Athens and Salonika. Meanwhile Aerosweet has transferred its B-737 used on the Greek routes onto flights to Sofia and Istanbul.

Article ID: 715