Ukraine International postpones launch of Ashgabat route

Ukraine International Airlines (PS, Kiev Borispol) has been forced to indefinitely postpone the resumption of scheduled services linking its Kiev Borispol hub with Ashgabat, originally scheduled for September 21.

Turkmenistan and Ukraine have been arguing about their bilateral air service agreement for several months with Ukraine barring Turkmenistan Airlines (T5, Ashgabat) flights to Kiev in August after Turkmenistan did not allocate traffic rights to UIA to serve Ashgabat. Given the UIA announcement that it cannot launch services on September 21 as planned due to "current misregulations between the Turkmen and Ukrainian aviation authorities" it seems like the two countries have still not been able to overcome their different interpretation of the existing BASA in place.