Former chairman of the supervisory board and co-owner of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), Aron Maiberg, has officially confirmed that he has exited the company’s list of shareholders for good.
“I have made a permanent exit from UIA,” Maiberg shared with Forbes’ Ukrainian editorial team.
Regarding the specifics of his departure from UIA’s list of shareholders, where he had been in business with Ihor Kolomoyskyi for at least the last eight years, Maiberg declined to provide details.
He also expressed his lack of interest in purchasing the company’s assets that are currently being liquidated to cover its debts.
“I haven’t been involved in buying any assets, trademarks, or other properties of UIA, and I have no desire to acquire them,” Maiberg stated.
UIA’s logos and trademarks, as well as controlling stakes in two of its most valuable assets – the handling company “Interavia” and “UIAtechnik” – were already sold by private executors.
UIA had accumulated significant debts to the state before the full-scale invasion, debts that Kolomoyskyi refused to repay, offering shares of the airline instead. Specifically, the airline owed at least 800 million hryvnias for aircraft services at Boryspil Airport and 1.5 billion hryvnias for air navigation services from “Ukraerorukh.” Legal proceedings are currently ongoing in both cases.
UIA was established in 1992 as a joint venture between Ukraine and Western investors to operate flights from Kyiv to European countries using foreign aircraft. In 2011, the state sold its 61.58% share in UIA to private individuals.
Among the new owners of the company was Aron Maiberg, a former co-owner of the defunct airline “AeroSvit.” UIA’s shareholders after its privatization also reportedly included former Minister of Infrastructure Boris Kolesnikov and Mikhailo Tabachnik, the brother of former Minister Dmytro Tabachnik.
In 2015, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who co-owned “AeroSvit” with Maiberg, admitted to buying a share of UIA from Kolesnikov. In 2022, UIA ceased its operations due to a conflict between Maiberg and Kolomoyskyi.
