Ukrairway

On May 25, 2024, we will celebrate one of the significant anniversaries in the history of domestic civil aviation. On this day, exactly 100 years ago, the first regular passenger airline flights began in Ukraine.

Of course, this didn't happen suddenly. A recent article on our website already described how the first domestic airline, "Ukrairway," was created and how its first aircraft, the Dornier Komet II, were purchased in Germany. The first crews were also recruited in Germany, inviting pilots E. Fath and V. Neun, as well as mechanics P. Lucas and I. Yangelsky.

The first navigation was preceded by meticulous work in creating ground infrastructure. For instance, in January 1924, at the main base of "Ukrairway" in Kharkiv, the construction of a large reinforced concrete hangar was completed, where the valuable "Komets" were immediately housed. The temperature there did not differ from the outside, but the storage conditions for the equipment improved. An aviation workshop was organized, headed by the 52-year-old French mechanic L. Bonos.

When creating airports, cost minimization was prioritized, and so they adapted what they could. Several abandoned military airfields were considered, but it was found that they were not very suitable for regular routes. For example, these airfields were located on the outskirts of cities, had poor road access, and transporting passengers to them proved very difficult. Therefore, in Kyiv, only the first flights were carried out to the military Post-Volynsky, and then they started using the Kurenevsky airfield, which previously belonged to the Kyiv Aeronautical Society.

In Kharkiv, no better solution was found than to start flights from the racetrack in Sokolniki. Thus, in the first capital airport of Ukraine, horse races and flights alternated. It seemed such an exotic arrangement could not last long, but the problem was not resolved until 1926, when tragedy struck. On May 19, shortly after the "Komet" took off, oil started leaking from its engine. Pilot Sobolev decided to return to Kharkiv, but as the plane was landing, horse races had already started at the airfield-racetrack. Trying to avoid collision with the horses, the pilot veered off, the "Komet" clipped a tree with its wing and crashed into the stands. The pilot, the flight mechanic, and two passengers died. Only after this did the races stop, and Sokolniki temporarily became the main air gateway of Ukraine.

But let's return to 1924. The first air routes were Kharkiv-Poltava-Kyiv and Kharkiv-Yelisavetgrad (now Kropyvnytskyi)-Odesa. Two technical flights were performed before the start of regular services, which were completed by May 22.

On May 25, pilot Fath flew the "Komet" to Kyiv with an intermediate landing in Poltava, and his colleague Neun made a flight to Odesa via Yelisavetgrad. These flights were purely promotional. Passengers included officials and journalists, and at the intermediate airfields and final destinations, there were ceremonial rallies with speeches, leaflet distribution, and other typical attributes of the time.

After the noisy festive start, the lines quickly settled into routine. Two weekly flights to Kyiv and one to Odesa were conducted. The "Komets" flew with remarkable regularity, almost without schedule disruptions. Passengers were provided with high-level service. For instance, tickets could be ordered by phone and delivered to the home, and they could arrive at the airfield by "Ukrairway" car. State subsidies allowed for ticket prices to be set at 55-60% of the cost price (a trip to Kyiv cost 45 rubles, and to Odesa – 60 rubles). However, this was still three times higher than the cost of a soft carriage train ticket, and there were fewer people willing to use air transport than expected. In the first month of flights on both routes, 14 kg of cargo and 79 passengers were transported, many of whom flew for free on official business. Ticket revenue amounted to only 1450 rubles instead of the expected 4800 rubles.

There was only one unfortunate incident during regular flights. The RRUAB aircraft, which had already had a mishap the previous year, was involved. On July 28, Neun flew from Kharkiv with two passengers and a flight mechanic on board. The sky remained clear until Poltava, but then the plane entered clouds. Trying to exit them, the pilot descended to one hundred meters, but the situation only worsened – now they were in thick fog. Continuing the flight was extremely risky. Hoping the route lay over flat terrain, Neun decided to land. He saw the ground just ten meters below and didn't have time to level the plane properly. Fortunately, the "Komet" only sustained minor damage, and no one was injured. The frightened passengers were quickly taken to the nearest train station, from where they continued their journey to Kyiv by train.

However, the navigation, which ended on October 1, was quite successful. The German equipment worked reliably, and the flight regularity was 98.5%. In four months, 62 flights were made on the Kharkiv-Kyiv route and 31 on the Kharkiv-Odesa route, along with several special flights, including to Simferopol and Moscow. Scheduled flights transported 280 passengers, and another 480 were given paid circular flights over the airfields. Additionally, 137 kg of mail and 519 kg of other cargo were delivered. The total flight time exceeded 548 hours, covering 59,595 km. However, the economic indicators were not encouraging for the "Ukrairway" management, as they were still calculating losses. Therefore, parallel "business projects" to air connections were developed, hoping to quickly rectify the situation.

Rostislav Maraev.