VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKV #0925 1481554
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281554Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY KYIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7869
INFO RULSDMK/DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS KYIV 000925 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIA EAIR PREL UP
SUBJECT: CIVAIR: DELTA AIR LINES REQUEST FOR AUTHORITY 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 54404 
     ¶B. UKRAINIAN SAA LETTER DATED 5/22/2009 
 
¶1. (SBU) Post delivered the ref A demarche on May 28 to 
Sergiy Korshuk, Director of the Department for Air 
Transportation and Licensing at the State Aviation 
Administration (SAA) of Ukraine. SAA Chairman Oleksander 
Davydov and his deputy Dmytro Babeichuk were unavailable to 
meet.  Jeff Morgan, Director of International and Regulatory 
Affairs at Delta Airlines, accompanied Post to the meeting. 
 
¶2. (SBU) In his reply, Korshuk repeated the arguments made by 
Davydov in ref B: Ukraine's FAA Category II status was 
preventing Aerosvit Airlines from expanding its existing five 
flights a week to the U.S.  Korshuk said Aerosvit asked the 
USG to increase its frequency to six flights a week but was 
refused.  Ukraine would grant Delta five flights in the 
summer season scheduled to begin June 1, but not more in 
order to guarantee "fair and equal opportunities" between 
U.S. and Ukrainian airlines in accordance with Article 11 of 
the bilateral air transport agreement. Korshuk conceded that 
"contradictions might exist" between the provisions of 
Article 11 and those of Article 4, which permits the sides to 
restrict traffic based on security concerns, and Article 3, 
which compels the sides to grant airlines permission to 
operate on their territory as long as they continue to meet 
the conditions set forth in the agreement.  Ukraine was 
interested in holding consultations with the USG to discuss 
Aerosvit's and Delta's market access "within the overall 
context of our bilateral relationship" in civil aviation as 
soon as possible.  The consultations should also include a 
discussion on Ukraine's Category II status.  The GOU was 
waiting for a response from the USG on its request for 
consultations and was concerned that none had been 
forthcoming to date. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Korshuk's reply indicated that he did not fully 
understand the reasons why Ukraine's Category II status was 
preventing Aerosvit from increasing its flights to the U.S. 
He emphasized Aerosvit's safety record repeatedly, and said 
that the GOU understood that last year's ICAO audit of 
Ukraine "was not bad," but admitted that he had not seen the 
ICAO report.  Post drew on past language from the Department 
and FAA to explain USG views on the country's Category II 
status. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Delta's Morgan outlined the problems faced by the 
airline should it not receive permission to operate six 
flights weekly as of June 1.  Morgan said Delta could not 
wait until the two governments discussed the issue within the 
framework of formal consultations, and was prepared to 
compromise in the meantime.  Morgan said Delta still wanted 
permission for six weekly flights for the entire summer 
season, but would accept temporary permission to operate the 
six weekly flights for 90 days in order to give the two 
governments time to conduct consultations.  In any case Delta 
needed a definitive answer from the SAA by COB on May 29. 
Korshuk said the SAA would discuss the issue internally and 
resond back to Delta through Post on May 29. 
 
¶5. (SBU) We subsequently asked Morgan to leave the room and 
delivered, per ref A instructions, the additional talking 
points that the USG could review options that might impact 
Ukrainian carrier service to the U.S. should the GOU fail to 
approve Delta's application in a manner that did not disrupt 
the airline's operations.  We reiterated the USG willingness 
to receive a GOU delegation for consultations, and said we 
would encourage Washington to respond formally to the GOU 
request for a meeting in a timely manner. Korshuk said he 
understood the USG message and would share it with SAA 
Chairman Davydov. 
PETTIT