A group of Ukrainian NGOs, focusing on competition and the
protection of economic freedoms, appealed to a Member of the European
Parliament from the UK, Charles Tannock, for EP support in settling a
dispute between the Ukrainian state-owned air carrier Dniproavia and
German Lufthansa. According to the advocacy group, the ban on
servicing Ukrainian-German routes against Dniproavia is both limiting
access to affordable air-transportation for the inhabitants of
Ukraine's major industrial region of Dnipropetrovsk and forms
conditions for the monopolization of the profitable air route by the
German carrier.
The advocacy group, represented by the Private Investments
Protection Association, the Public Committee for National Security,
the Corporate Relations Research Center and the Energy Research Center
also handed to the member of the European Parliament a copy of the
appeal by Ukrainian MPs to their European counterparts calling for
action in settling the airline clash.
NGO representatives called upon the European Parliament to
investigate the matter of the Ukrainian-German aviation conflict, to
ensure compliance with the Open Sky agreement and to initiate the
revocation of Germany's discriminatory ban against the Ukrainian air
carrier.
"Our approach was to settle the conflict through negotiations but
it didn't work out" - the head of Public Committee for National
Security, Oleksii Tolkachov, pointed out during the meeting - "Germany
took very a stiff position, with full ban of the Ukrainian airline,
so, as a result, it raised public protests in Ukraine".
Charles Tannock assured the representatives of the NGOs that he
would raise the Dniproavia issue before the European Commission and
the appropriate committee of the European Parliament.
The parties also signed a Joint Communique summarising the meeting
results.
Conflict background
On January 2007 Ukrainian NGOs submitted a joint appeal on the
conflict to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The German government has supported Lufthansa since an October
2005 scheduling problem, when Lufthansa rejected DniproAvia's
confirmation of 5 of 6 Lufthansa-requested time slots. The sixth
request was shifted by a few hours in order to fit into existing
flights on the Dnipropetrovsk-Frankfurt am Main run.
The scheduling issue escalated in March 2006 when the German
Federal Department of Civil Aviation (hereafter - LBA) revoked
DniproAvia's landing rights first at Frankfurt and then throughout
Germany. The reasons given included Lufthansa's scheduling problems
and allegations that the airline had not been given a permit by the
Ukrainian authorities for flights in the Summer 2006 period, though
the information provided by Lufthansa to the LBA should show that the
Ukrainian government did indeed act in a timely manner.
At the same time, Lufthansa unilaterally decided to stop servicing
routes to Dnipropetrovsk. Thus the city has been without direct air
links to Germany's major cities for months. Ahis is not the first
dispute between Lufthansa and a Ukrainian carrier. NGO experts believe
the present conflict may be an attempt to monopolize the profitable
routes from Dnipropetrovsk to Germany, and call the current attitude
of the German aviation authorities towards the Ukrainian airlines
"discriminatory".
