“Ukraine is working on restoring control over the Black Sea airspace in cooperation with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),” Volodymyr Omelyan, the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, stated during the meeting with Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, the President of the ICAO Council, and with Mr. Luis Fonseca de Almeida, the Regional Director of the ICAO European and North Atlantic  Office.

The Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine stressed that the visit of the President of the ICAO Council to Ukraine is a significant and important event. The last time such a visit took place was more than 10 years ago.

"Ukraine is taking all possible measures to ensure safety international air navigation. Ukraine has technical and operational capacity to ensure provision of air navigation services in accordance with the ICAO standards and recommended practices in international airspace over the open sea, whereby under international treaties Ukraine is responsible for provision of air traffic services," the Minister of infrastructure of Ukraine noted.

According to the Minister, a scenario premised on effective international treaties whereby Ukraine provides air navigation services, as the case had been before 2014, is the only acceptable scenario for normalization of air traffic in international space. The main obstacle to the above is the illegitimate publications of air navigation information concerning international airspace by Simferopol FIR (flight information region).

"We expect to receive the official opinion based on ICAO audit in June. According to the preliminary estimates, it can be said that Ukraine has passed the audit best among the Eastern European countries. The feedback of the President of ICAO is very important to us. The President stressed that Ukraine has successfully undergone the difficult years of 2014-16 and that the results exceeded expectations," Volodymyr Omelyan said.

Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, the President of the ICAO Council, thanked the management of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine and the Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise (UkSATSE) for ensuring aviation safety at the highest level.

The President of the ICAO Council expressed his hope that Ukraine will become a member of the ICAO Council in 2019, after the ratification of the Protocol for increase of the ICAO Council member countries. Prior to this above however, Ukraine will consider an issue regarding the opening of a permanent representative office at the ICAO headquarters.

Also, the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine has secured support of the President of the ICAO Council to open Ukraine’s office at the ICAO Council in order to address urgent matters.

Reference information about ICAO:

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is a UN specialized agency, established by States in 1944 to manage the administration and governance of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention).

ICAO works with the Convention’s 191 Member States and industry groups to reach consensus on international civil aviation Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) and policies in support of a safe, efficient, secure, economically sustainable and environmentally responsible civil aviation sector. These SARPs and policies are used by ICAO Member States to ensure that their local civil aviation operations and regulations conform to global norms, which in turn permits more than 100,000 daily flights in aviation’s global network to operate safely and reliably in every region of the world.

In addition to its core work resolving consensus-driven international SARPs and policies among its Member States and industry, and among many other priorities and programmes, ICAO also coordinates assistance and capacity building for States in support of numerous aviation development objectives; produces global plans to coordinate multilateral strategic progress for safety and air navigation; monitors and reports on numerous air transport sector performance metrics; and audits States’ civil aviation oversight capabilities in the areas of safety and security.

Ukraine became a member of ICAO on September 9, 1992, having acceded to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago, 7/12/1944 (Chicago Convention). The representatives of Ukraine actively participate in ICAO numerous events (ICAO Assembly Sessions (held once in 3 years), specialized conferences, workshops and meetings), promoting involvement of Ukrainian experts in the formation of ICAO decisions and policies, particularly in the European region,  improvement of national aviation professionals’ qualifications, timely aligning of the legislation in relation to updated international requirements.