History
The airline was established on 1 October 1992, and started operations on 25 November 1992 (Kiev-London flight). It was one of the first joint ventures with foreign capital in Ukraine and was the first airline in the CIS to introduce new Boeing 737 aircraft. The founding shareholders were the Ukrainian Association of Civil Aviation and Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA), an Irish aircraft-leasing company. In 1996, Austrian Airlines and Swissair became shareholders, investing US$9 million in new equity. The airline began cargo operations with an Il-86 aircraft on 13 November 1994 to London and Amsterdam, and today operates a dedicated aircraft for freight operations. In 2000, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development became a shareholder by investing $5.4 million. In 2006 UIA adopted a new classification system for freight operations which allowed the airline to carry a wider range of goods, ranging from live animals to fresh food and valuable objects. Additionally, an express service was introduced to meet the needs of customers wishing to make use of expedited cargo delivery services.
In February 2011, Ukrainian government sold its 61,6% stake in UIA to three existing minority shareholders for Hr.287 million ($36.2 million). Currently, the airline is owned by UIA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH (59%), UIA Holding (26%), and Capital Investment Project (15%).
Read more about this topic: Ukraine International Airlines
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