The airlines Ukraine International Airlines and SkyUp were able to land wet lease orders at short notice. The first carrier will fly for Air Baltic from May 1, 2022 with a Boeing 737-900ER.

In a press release, the Latvian airline writes that the medium-haul jet will “perform short-term flights in the Air Baltic network”. The company has not yet communicated the exact routes. Company boss Martin Gauss: “Ukraine International Airlines is a reliable and long-term partner of Air Baltic. Times are now very difficult for the people of Ukraine and their national airline. By temporarily wet-leasing their aircraft, we are also providing Ukraine International Airlines employees with short-term work.”

Air Baltic says it has opted for a short-term wet lease of additional aircraft due to the impact of global supply chain issues. This decision allows the company to stick to its scheduled flight schedule. so the company. However, it could also be due to the fact that you fly numerous aircraft under wet leases for SAS, Eurowings and, soon, Eurowings Discover. Since Air Baltic has greatly expanded its own flight plan, it can be assumed that this could not be carried out without external equipment

For Ukraine International, Sergey Fomenko, Vice President Commerce, comments: “We would like to thank our very good partner and friend Air Baltic for selecting Ukraine International Airlines as the ACMI-based capacity provider for its network. Especially now, when UIA is temporarily unable to operate flights to and from Ukraine, such an act of international aviation cooperation is very symbolic and important. As an IOSA-certified airline, UIA is ready to provide quality services on Air Baltic routes.”

Corendon Airlines also relies on ACMI services from a Ukrainian airline. SkyUp Airlines has signed three Boeing 737s. These will be on the road from Rhodes or Crete for the holiday airline. According to the Ukrainian carrier, the aircraft with the registrations UR-SQA, UR-SQB and UR-SQF are used. Two will be stationed on the Greek island of Rhodes and one in Crete. The two groups have not given any further details on the duration of the wet lease cooperation.

Just a few weeks ago, SkyUp Airlines did with an urgent appeal to airlinesthat their planes, which have flown out to the West in time, should be contracted for charter and/or wet-lease services. This would enable the carrier to generate income and the taxes that have to be paid would indirectly support the Ukraine.

In Europe, some airlines are suffering from acute staff shortages. In many cases, this was deliberately brought about because many employees were made redundant in the course of the corona pandemic. Many have also reoriented themselves - not least because of the low short-time work allowance. For example, Austrian Airlines is missing around 150 flight attendants. The situation at the competitor Lauda Europe is also tense, although the base in Vienna – in contrast to those in Croatia – is stable in terms of staffing.