«People may die»: Ukrainian pilots' association assesses the possibility of opening the airport «Lviv»
- Darina Melnychuk
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21:10, 14 January, 2025
Gennadiy Khazan, President of the Ukrainian Aviation Association of Pilots and Aircraft Owners «AOPA Ukraine», believes that the resumption of civil aviation flights in Lviv during martial law could lead to the destruction of the airport and loss of life.
He said this on the air of Espresso.
According to him, the opening of the airport «Lviv» is inexpedient because it is being destroyed by Russian shelling, and passengers and staff may die.
«What they have planned now could lead to two events. First, Ukraine, the city of Lviv, will be left without an airport because it will be destroyed by Russian missile attacks. Second, people may die, both passengers and staff at Lviv airport. As a result, when the time for victory comes, and I hope that I and my family will do everything possible to ensure that, in this difficult time, the war ends in victory, we will come to the point where there will be no airport in Lviv. And this will mean that for three or four years we will be running around the world with our hands open and saying: «Dear people, give us money». Because we loved money so much and wanted to make money so much, «easy to mow it down», that we implemented this», he said.
Khazan also stressed that in order to resume operations, the airport needs to be provided with an extremely high level of security.
«I have no right to give advice, I can only express my thoughts out loud. Let those who counted and believed (that it is possible to open an airport in Lviv, — note) go to the airport in Rzeszów (a city in Poland, — note) and count the number of Patriot launchers located at least on one side of the runway. And when they can at least theoretically understand whether they can provide at least this level of security for Lviv airport, they can take on some inappropriate responsibility to count something further», he said.
As you know, air traffic in Ukraine has been suspended since the beginning of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In November 2024, a senior partner at Marsh McLennan, a consulting firm, said at the Kyiv International Economic Forum that Ukraine plans to reopen one of its airports by the end of 2025, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants it to be «Boryspil».
Later, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that given the current security situation, a partial reopening of the airspace is not possible at this time.
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