Private company

UM Airlines

Ukrainian airline

Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines (Ukrainian: Українсько-середземноморські авіалінії, Ukrayinsʹko-seredzemnomorsʹki avialiniyi), also known as UM Air, was an airline based in Kyiv, Ukraine. It ceased operations in 2018.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1998Founded1
DC-9 UR-CBY
Photo: Yaoleilei at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines (Ukrainian: Українсько-середземноморські авіалінії, Ukrayinsʹko-seredzemnomorsʹki avialiniyi), also known as UM Air, was an airline based in Kyiv, Ukraine. It ceased operations in 2018.2

The story

The airline was established by Lebanese businessmen in 1998 and began operations in June 2000. It was founded as an open-end joint-stock company. In 2003 UM Air had over 500 employees and carried 210,000 passengers.

In 2007, the Ukrainian Air Administration refused to renew UM Air's license because of safety concerns. In September 2007 the European Commission banned Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines from operating in the airspace over the European Union, citing safety issues. This meant that it was banned for safety reasons from operating services of any kind within the European Union. In November 2009, the airline was allowed to resume operations with its McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft by the European Commission.

In 2013, UM Air was one of two Ukrainian airlines that had sanctions imposed against them by the US government. UM Air was accused of supplying British Aerospace BAe 146 series aircraft to Iranian airline Mahan Air and of training Mahan Air pilots and maintenance technicians. Mahan Air was itself already under sanction by the US government. UM's owner and Chairman Rodrigue Merhej was also personally placed under sanction.

From Wikipedia’s article on Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

Destinations

UM Air served the following scheduled destinations as of December 2017:

Iran

Tehran - Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport

Jordan

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Amman - Queen Alia International Airport

Lebanon

Beirut - Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport

Ukraine

Kyiv - Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany) base

Fleet

Current fleet

The UM Air fleet consisted of the following aircraft (as of September 2016):

Previously operated

Antonov An-24RV

Tupolev Tu-134A

Tupolev Tu-154B2

Yakovlev Yak-42D

From Wikipedia’s article on Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 2018Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1998Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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