Ukrainian state airports didn’t “fall asleep” during martial law — they kept teams, processes and minimum operations in place so that, when the sky is opened, they can switch on fairly quickly. This was confirmed by Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development Serhiy Derkach in an official response to a media request.
According to him, state-owned airports have kept qualified personnel in numbers sufficient to maintain operational readiness. There were no mass layoffs — people left only on their own initiative or by mutual agreement. Most employees are now on forced downtime, mobilized or on unpaid leave, and downtime is paid at two-thirds of the tariff rate, as required by law.
The ministry stresses that this is a conscious policy: keeping airport teams together is cheaper and smarter than trying to rebuild them from scratch when flights resume.
So why aren’t planes flying yet?
Because the main barrier is not the airports — it’s civil aviation flight safety during the war.
“The resumption of operational activities of airports will be considered after implementing measures that will ensure an acceptable level of civil aviation flight safety,” Serhiy Derkach clarified.
That means several conditions must be met at once:
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the airspace must be safe from missile and drone threats to civilian aircraft;
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airport infrastructure (runways, terminals, navigation) must be in a usable state;
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and there must be enough trained personnel to operate all services.
Only after that will the government make a political and technical decision to reopen.
Airports are not waiting passively
The ministry says airports:
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stay in contact with airlines to quickly renew contracts once airspace opens;
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provide periodic training for staff in certified centers;
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undergo inspections of airport services according to current regulations.
In other words, they are keeping the machine oiled.
Who manages what
Right now the ministry directly manages two state airports — Boryspil and Lviv named after Danylo Halytskyi. Other airports in Ukraine are municipally owned, but the safety logic will be the same for everyone: no flights until there is a guaranteed level of protection.
What this means for the market
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The state has preserved the aviation backbone — there is no personnel collapse.
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A restart is technically possible, but purely condition-based.
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The decisive factor will be security, not economics.
So the good news: Ukraine didn’t lose its main airports during the war. The less fun news: they will open not “when we want,” but “when it’s safe.”
