WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it will allow U.S. airlines and code-share partners to resume flights at three Ukrainian airports and over parts of the Black Sea, citing improved safety and security in parts of Ukraine.

The FAA had barred flights over the war zones of the Crimea and Ukraine in April 2014, and expanded prohibitions after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down while it flew over eastern Ukraine, killing nearly 300 people on board.

The FAA said in a notice filed on a government website it would maintain prohibitions on flights over the Crimea and parts of Ukraine.

The air safety agency said it will allow takeoffs and landings at Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia international airports in Ukraine, saying operations could be conducted with "minimal additional risk." (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Bernadette Baum) </s> The Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine says the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA, the United States) has allowed the U.S. air companies to resume flights in the Simferopol and Dnipropetrovsk flight information regions.

The press service of the Infrastructure Ministry announced this in a statement, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelian has said that the Federal Aviation Administration of the USA has allowed American air companies and their partners to resume flights to three Ukrainian airports and over a part of the air space over the Black Sea," reads the statement.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in March 2018, the Ukraerorukh state air navigation servicing enterprise and the FAA said they were eying resumption of flights of airlines registered in the USA within the Simferopol and Dnipropetrovsk flight information regions. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it would allow U.S. airlines and codeshare partners to resume flights at three Ukrainian airports and over parts of the Black Sea, citing improved safety and security in parts of Ukraine.

The FAA had barred flights over the war zones of Crimea and the Ukraine in April 2014, and expanded prohibitions after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down while it flew over eastern Ukraine, killing nearly 300 people on board.

The FAA said in a notice filed on a government website it would maintain prohibitions on flights over the Crimea and parts of Ukraine.

The air safety agency said it would allow takeoffs and landings at Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia international airports in Ukraine, saying operations could be conducted with “minimal additional risk.”

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, prompting international condemnation and Western sanctions, but since then there have been no major outbreaks of violence on the peninsula.

The FAA said security and safety conditions “have sufficiently stabilized in certain regions of Ukraine” to allow for additional flight operations. There have been over two years of safe flight operations on Black Sea air routes by non-U.S. airlines, prompting the change, it said.

The FAA said it was allowing flights to the three additional Ukraine airports, including one serving Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, because it believed there was enough of a “buffer from the area of fighting and associated weapons capabilities.”

The rules, which are currently scheduled to last until October 2020, also apply to foreign airlines operating a U.S. airline codeshare flight. </s> An armed pro-Russian separatist stands on part of the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane after it crashed near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014. The Dutch are due to announce on Wednesday 28 September the long-awaited results of an investigation with Australia, Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine into the July 17, 2014 downing of the flight. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it would allow U.S. airlines and codeshare partners to resume flights at three Ukrainian airports and over parts of the Black Sea, citing improved safety and security in parts of Ukraine.

The FAA had barred flights over the war zones of Crimea and the Ukraine in April 2014, and expanded prohibitions after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down while it flew over eastern Ukraine, killing nearly 300 people on board.

The FAA said in a notice filed on a government website it would maintain prohibitions on flights over the Crimea and parts of Ukraine.

The air safety agency said it would allow takeoffs and landings at Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia international airports in Ukraine, saying operations could be conducted with “minimal additional risk.”

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, prompting international condemnation and Western sanctions, but since then there have been no major outbreaks of violence on the peninsula.

The FAA said security and safety conditions “have sufficiently stabilized in certain regions of Ukraine” to allow for additional flight operations. There have been over two years of safe flight operations on Black Sea air routes by non-U.S. airlines, prompting the change, it said.

The FAA said it was allowing flights to the three additional Ukraine airports, including one serving Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, because it believed there was enough of a “buffer from the area of fighting and associated weapons capabilities.”

The rules, which are currently scheduled to last until October 2020, also apply to foreign airlines operating a U.S. airline codeshare flight. </s> The FAA has modified areas in Eastern Ukraine that are off-limits to US airlines and their foreign codeshare partners, citing a stabilization in security conditions in the region.

The directive, which will remain in effect until October 2020, will open up takeoffs and landings at three Ukrainian international airports, as well as flights over four Black Sea routes, while retaining bans on operations in more volatile areas of Eastern Ukraine and the Crimea.

The FAA first prohibited flight operations in April 2014 in parts of the Simferopol (UKFV) Flight Information Region (FIR) by US carriers and airmen because of conflicting airspace claims between Ukraine and Russia arising from the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.

That prohibition was expanded in July 2014 to include the entire UKFV FIR, as well as the Dnipropetrovsk FIR (UKDV), following a rise in hostilities between the Ukraine military and pro-Russian separatists, and the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that month, which killed 280 passengers and 15 crew.

Following two additional extensions in 2015 and 2016, the FAA has now proposed to extend the prohibition for another two years, but only in the portions of the UKFV and UKDV FIRs where there is still a continuing hazard to civil aviation.

The FAA is extending the prohibition in the Eastern part of UKDV, but will be permitting US civil operations in the Western portion of the region. The three airports now open to US airlines and their codeshare partners are all located within the flight prohibition area of the UKDV FIR, but will be receiving exemptions from the FAA to facilitate US aircraft.

They include the Kharkiv International Airport (UKHH), which serves the country’s second largest city of Kharkiv; the Dnipropetrovsk International Airport (UKDD); and Zaporizhzhia International Airport (UKDE). The FAA said those airports are safe because of a “buffer from the area of fighting and associated weapons capabilities.”

While operations over the Crimean Peninsula in the UKFV FIR remain suspended, the FAA will allow US civil operations over four Black Sea routes, which are over the high seas and deemed to be sufficiently offshore from the Crimea.

In its decision to extend the prohibitions in the two Eastern Ukrainian regions, the FAA cited concerns that the government of Ukraine “has not mitigated the hazards. . .necessitating a continuing, albeit more limited, flight prohibition.” The agency also cited an “overwhelming Russian military presence and weapon capabilities” on the Crimean Peninsula, which it said creates a continuing risk for misidentification of aircraft flying over the peninsula and in nearby airspace. </s> The United States accused Russia of sending one of its fighter jets dangerously close to an American spy plane over the Black Sea on Wednesday, an intercept American military officials said was "unsafe and unprofessional," even as Moscow said it acted in accordance with international flight rules.

The U.S. said its Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft was on "routine operations" in international airspace when a Russian SU-27 Flanker jet flew within three meters of it in an intercept that lasted 19 minutes.

"U.S. Navy aircraft and ships routinely interact with Russian units in the area and most interactions are safe and professional," the U.S. Defense Department said. "However, we have concerns when there is an unsafe maneuver like this. These actions have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions, and could result in a miscalculation or accident."

The Russian defense ministry said it dispatched its fighter jet after the U.S. aircraft approached the Russian border and turned off its transponders, which are used for identification.

"After the Russian fighters approached the reconnaissance aircraft for visual inspection and identification of the aircraft registration numbers, the American planes abruptly changed course and flew in the opposite direction from the Russian border," Moscow said.

A Russian defense ministry spokesman said the Russian fighter acted in strict accordance with international rules.

The conflict in the skies comes at a time of increased tensions between the two countries, chiefly their inability to agree on how to achieve a lasting cease-fire in the Syrian civil war and end fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has been supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against rebels trying to overthrow his government, while the U.S. has focused its attention on attacks against Islamic State jihadists in Syria. The U.S. imposed economic sanctions against Moscow for its 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and support for pro-Moscow fighters in eastern Ukraine doing battle with Kyiv's forces.

Wednesday's incident over the Black Sea is one of several between Russian and U.S. warplanes this year. In April, as a U.S. guided missile destroyer patrolled in the Baltic Sea, two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes over it.

The two countries agreed in a 1972 pact to various measures to avert dangerous interactions in international waters.
The Federal Aviation Administration states that it will allow U.S. airlines to resume flights at three Ukrainian airports, at Kharkiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhia, and over parts of the Black Sea, citing improved safety and security in parts of Ukraine.