Dubai: Flydubai’s inaugural flight FZ727 to Zhulyany International Airport in Kiev landed on Wednesday and was welcomed with a water cannon salute. The airline’s Chief Executive Officer, Gaith Al Gaith, was greeted by airport officials including Denis Kostorzhevskiy, Head of the Board of Directors of International Airport Kiev (Zhulyany) and Alexy Yakovec, General Director of Master Avia. The aircraft was configured with Business Class which went on sale earlier this month and is now being trialled on select flights.
flydubai is also commencing operations to the southern city of Odessa, with flights twice a week. The airline now operates to four destinations in Ukraine and 66 destinations across its network.
Commenting on the launch, Gaith Al Gaith said: “flydubai remains committed to the Ukrainian market. We have been flying here since 2011 and we now offer 28 flights a week to Dubai. In October, we are delighted to announce that the first commercial flight equipped with our new Business Class service will land in Kiev.”
Travel to Dubai from Ukraine has grown considerably, with a 46 per cent growth in passenger numbers in the last 12 months. flydubai has made travel more convenient and Ukrainian passengers have made extensive use of the airline’s network, with 23 per cent of them in the last year continuing their journey to popular destinations including Colombo in Sri Lanka and Malé in the Maldives. Visiting Dubai’s efficient aviation hub allows passengers to connect onwards to over 200 destinations.
With the start of flights to Zhulyany International Airport together with flydubai’s existing daily service to Boryspil International Airport passengers will now have the choice of a double daily service to Dubai. Flight FZ727 leaves daily from Dubai International Airport Terminal 2 at 0920hrs, arriving at Zhulyany International Airport at local time 1350hrs. The return flight, FZ728, departs daily from Zhulyany International Airport at 1435hrs, landing in Dubai at local time 2025hrs.
