The story
Early years
The airline was established on 25 March 1994, and started operations in April that year with flights from Kyiv to Athens, Larnaca, Tel Aviv, Odesa and Thessaloniki in co-operation with Air Ukraine. In October of the same year, the carrier started dry-leasing some Boeing 737-200s in connection with the addition of Moscow into the route network. In 1995, new scheduled flights from Kyiv to Almaty, Ashgabad, and Riga were launched, laying the foundations for it to become a transit airline. In 1996, Yekaterinburg, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Simferopol were added to the airline's network. Also in 1996, the airline became a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). By 1997, Aerosvit Airlines had become a member of IATA Clearing House and purchased its first Boeing 737-200 aircraft. By 1999, Aerosvit had acquired a third Boeing 737-200 aircraft and scheduled flights to Budapest, Sofia and Istanbul were launched.
Post-millennium expansion and reorganisation
In 2000, two more Boeing 737-300 aircraft joined Aerosvit Airlines' fleet. Scheduled flights to Prague and Warsaw were launched, and Aerosvit Airlines carried more passengers than any other Ukrainian airline (over the calendar year). In 2002, a further three Boeing 737-500 aircraft joined the fleet, as did the first Boeing 767-300ER — a 350-seater aircraft that previously belonged to SAS — on a long-term lease from Boeing Capital, aimed at starting operations to Bangkok. Also in 2002, Aerosvit started flying to Dubai; it also took over the long-haul services previously operated by Air Ukraine.
The Kyiv–New York–Kyiv route was launched in 2003 with a twice weekly service. Later that year, flights to Toronto and Delhi began. In this year, the airline also carried its second millionth passenger. Soon after, the company received the JAR-145 certification for performing in house maintenance works in accordance with the European Joint Aviation Authorities' requirements. With the onset of 2004, Aerosvit increased the number of weekly flights it operated to Bangkok to three and an additional Boeing 737-300 was added to the fleet. Route expansion continued as before, and over the course of the year the number of Aerosvit-operated domestic flights across Ukraine expanded to eleven destinations. However, expansion did not just take place on the domestic market, as Aerosvit introduced new routes from its base in Kyiv, to Beijing, Baku, Chisinau, Cairo, and St. Petersburg. Finally, in 2004, Aerosvit Ukrainian Airlines became the official air carrier of the National Olympic team of Ukraine for the XXVIII Olympic Summer Games held in 2004 in Athens.
Aerosvit's ninth Boeing 737 mid-haul aircraft started operating in 2005, with a tenth being added to the fleet soon after. In the same year, e-ticketing was launched on the route New York-Kyiv and Aerosvit Ukrainian Airlines and Azerbaijan Airlines started code-sharing on the Kyiv-Baku route.
In 2006, the carrier became the 85th worldwide in passing the IATA Operational Safety Audit. In March that year, Naples was added to the route network, and in June, the Kyiv–Vilnius and Simferopol–Vilnius routes were launched in codeshare agreement with Lithuania's national carrier flyLAL. In September 2006 (2006-09), Aerosvit was the first airline to operate both inbound and outbound passenger flights at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, and in October, the airline celebrated the six-millionth passenger carried since it started operations.
In 2007, thanks to cooperation with Delta Air Lines, the number of destinations in the United States increased, allowing onward travel from New York to cities such as Los Angeles and Portland. It was in the same year that Aerosvit Ukrainian Airlines and Donbassaero began to build (at the initiative of their joint main shareholder Privat Group) the strategic alliance Ukrainian Aviation Group. Also, that year, the fleet was supplemented with a third Boeing 767 long-haul aircraft and the eleventh and twelfth mid-range Boeing 737s, whilst the start of code share flights with Belavia on the Kyiv-Minsk route took place. In August 2007 (2007-08), it was announced that a contract was signed with Boeing for the acquisition of seven Boeing 737-800s and purchase rights for another seven; in a deal valued at more than US$500 million, the operation marked the company's first direct purchase of aircraft since its foundation. These new aircraft would replace the airline's 13-strong Boeing 737 Classic fleet; the first of them was handed over by the manufacturer in March 2012 (2012-03). In December 2007 (2007-12), the airline began the commercialisation of e-tickets on its website.
At the beginning of 2008, flights from Kyiv to Tbilisi and Almaty were launched by Aerosvit, E-ticketing was introduced on all Aerosvit scheduled flights, and Aerosvit Airlines again became the official air carrier of the Ukrainian National Olympic team for the XXIX Olympic Games held in Beijing. In March 2009 (2009-03), Aerosvit acquired a 70-seater Antonov An-148, which was deployed on domestic routes in June; the first international revenue flight for the type with the airline took place in December that year, covering the Odesa–Moscow route. Also in April 2009 (2009-04), the carrier launched scheduled flights to Astana and Riga.
The Ukrainian Aviation Group and modern era
In 2010, Aerosvit added a second Antonov 148 aircraft to its fleet and new routes including Odesa-Kaliningrad, Simferopol-Kaliningrad, Donetsk-Saint Petersburg, Odesa-Riga, and Dnipro-Berlin were opened (largely with the cooperation of its sister companies Dniproavia and Donbassaero). An Odesa-Milan code-share route was launched. Dniproavia, having come into the Privat Group's business portfolio, joined the Ukrainian Aviation Group.
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During 2010, the airline opened 21 new international routes, including Bucharest and Yerevan, and signed a codeshare agreement with Hainan Airlines that covered operations on the Kyiv–Beijing route. Ho Chi Minh City was added to the route network in December 2011 (2011-12), becoming the first direct air link between Ukraine and Vietnam. Aerosvit took delivery of its first Boeing 737-800 in March 2012.
Additionally, Aerosvit signed a contract with Boeing for delivery of 4 Boeing 737-900ER aircraft in 2013-2014, and a fourth Boeing 767 was added to the fleet. In the first quarter of 2012, the airline received the first of its ordered Embraer E190 aircraft, with deliveries continuing into 2013 or 2014.
As of 25 March 2012, as a result of the Anti-monopoly committee of Ukraine's decision to allow the consolidation of the Ukrainian Aviation Group's physical and operational assets, Donbassaero and Dniproavia no longer operate flights with their own codes, but rather on behalf of their parent company Aerosvit.
By June 2012, the airline introduced their first Embraer E190. All Embraer E190 were ordered and operated by the partner-airline Dniproavia.
Financial difficulties and downfall
Boryspil International Airport's suspension of Aerosvit flights in March 2012 (2012-03), and a clash over a RUB 95 million debt with Sheremetyevo International Airport late that year indicated Aerosvit's financial weakness. As of 27 December 2012, debt was US$534 million (around €403 million), thrice the value of company assets (€138.7 million, as of 30 December 2012). The airline had not reported the 2012 results, but losses mounted to ₴ 1,456 billion in 2011, a threefold increase year-on-year. Aerosvit's last profitable year was 2007.
On 29 December 2012, Aerosvit filed for bankruptcy but intended to restructure and continue to operate. Large minority shareholders claimed they were not informed about the filing. Days prior to initiating the legal procedure, Aerosvit disclosed plans to transfer a number of its international routes to Ukraine International Airlines. After the bankruptcy proceedings were announced, the carrier's aircraft were detained at various airports, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded. In mid-January 2013 (2013-01), Rosaviatsiya stated that it would ban the airline over a US$1.5 million debt; late that month, Russia barred the airline from operating in its territory. As of 31 January 2013, the company stated that all the Boeing 737s were being returned to the lessors, as well as one Boeing 767. It was disclosed in mid-February 2013 (2013-02) that the company planned to cut about 1,800 jobs by March 2013 (2013-03), including all the Boeing 737-related staff that had already been dismissed.
Despite indications in mid-January that Aerosvit would continue to fly between Kyiv and Bangkok, Beijing, Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk and New York, the suspension of medium- and short-haul routes was announced, with plans to reestablish services to Bangkok, Beijing and New York in April 2013 (2013-04); however, as of April 2013, the airline ceased long-haul services as well. Part of Aerosvit's fleet was transferred to Ukraine International Airlines.
From Wikipedia’s article on Aerosvit Ukrainian Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4