Sir Keir Starmer leads coalition to establish ‘normal’ flying conditions once peace deal is agreed
Ben Riley-Smith Political Editor
17 August 2025 6:57pm BST
Britain will help restart international air travel into Ukraine after a peace deal is agreed to boost the country’s economy and rebuild its independence.
The Coalition of the Willing, a group of more than 30 nations supportive of Ukraine, wants to establish “normal” flying conditions in the event of a ceasefire.
Royal Air Force fighter jets are due to join planes from other European nations in policing the skies to ensure that Russia does not launch a second full-scale invasion.
But a secondary aim will be to reinstate international travel in and out of Ukrainian cities. A similar effort will be made to reopen Ukraine’s ports by accelerating continuing efforts to clear the Black Sea of mines.
The ambitions reveal an additional feature of the West’s hopes of rebuilding Ukraine into not just a secure and strong nation after the fighting ends, but an economically thriving one.
There would also be upsides for European travellers, who for more than three years have experienced longer journeys as planes divert around the Ukrainian border.
In the sky over Europe, from Portugal to Ukraine, the flight radar shows a striking contrast. Busy air routes full of passenger planes gradually give way to an empty horizon.
Planning for how Europe can do more to protect Ukraine’s independence if there is a deal with Russia has been going on intensively for months.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, have been taking the lead on the drive, with a joint headquarters being set up in Paris.
The coalition has put an emphasis on its belief that nations reluctant to take part in peace-keeping efforts should not hold back others more ready to act.
The coalition will also consider how to ensure Russia will not restock its military after a ceasefire is declared, which could enable a second full-scale invasion in the future.
The Prime Minister committed to the consideration of putting British “boots on the ground and planes in the air”, though the idea of a mass UK deployment to man any new border has faded.
Instead, hundreds of British military trainers and engineers will be sent into Ukraine to help rebuild its armed forces.
The first deployments are expected to take place within a week of a ceasefire, with the UK presence ramping up in the weeks after that.
Allies would fly planes over Ukraine to patrol the skies and deter a second Russian invasion, under the plans. The UK is willing to provide Eurofighter Typhoons and F-35s.
This would also allow commercial air travel to resume. In July, the UK Government said planes from the coalition would provide “air policing, reassuring the Ukrainian population and establishing the conditions for normal international air travel to re-commence”.
Alongside this will be an effort to create “safer seas” around Ukraine. The Black Sea Task Force, which was set up by Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, would be bolstered with specialist staff to accelerate mine-clearance in the water.
The UK Government said this drive would “ensure safe and secure maritime access for all vessels transiting to and from Ukraine ports”.
Who is in Starmer’s coalition of the willing and what can it do?
The resumption of more normal air travel and port activity would provide a boost to the Ukrainian economy at a time when Kyiv wants to rebuild its military.
Other companies and travellers in Europe could benefit, too.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) noted in its 2025 annual report: “The ongoing war in Ukraine also has affected air transport in various ways.
“Twenty per cent of European airspace has been closed and Russian airspace overflight rights withdrawn for most Western airlines, requiring the re-routing of long-haul flights to Asia.”
How quickly private airline companies would be willing to fly once again both over and into Ukraine, even with the coalition patrols, remains to be seen.
What reopening Ukraine’s skies could mean for international aviation
By Gareth Corfield, Transport Correspondent
Reopening Ukraine’s skies could significantly shorten airline flights to destinations such as China and South Korea.
Since Russia’s 2022 invasion, civilian airliners have been banned from flying within Ukrainian airspace for fear of a Russian attack.
Memories in the aviation world of how Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was deliberately shot down by a Russian anti-aircraft battery in 2014, killing all 298 people aboard, remain fresh to this day.
But safely reopening Ukraine’s skies could allow better direct access to further-flung destinations such as Azerbaijan, Pakistan and China.
Currently, airliners from western Europe must route via exceptionally busy skies over Bulgaria, Turkey and the southern Black Sea instead of taking a more direct route over Ukraine.
This safety-related detour makes some flights about 10 per cent longer than they would otherwise need to be.
Yet a direct flight from London to the Azerbaijani capital of Baku could take as little as five hours, aviation sources indicated. Current routes avoiding Ukraine give a scheduled journey time of five and a half hours.
Although flights from Heathrow to Iran were suspended last October amid deteriorating diplomatic relations between London and Tehran, the most direct route between the two capital cities passes over southern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula.
Potentially, new routes over that area could shorten the distance that UK-Iran flights must cover by just over four per cent. Such savings are typically seized upon by airlines, for whom every litre of fuel and minute airborne represents additional cost.
For example, Airbus’s introduction of so-called “sharklet” aerodynamic wingtips on its short-haul A320, which reduces fuel needs by around four per cent per flight, was so popular with airlines that it is now the default option on newly built aeroplanes.
Airlines are also keen to serve Ukraine itself. Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair, has claimed he could start scheduled flights to Kyiv and Lviv within about six weeks if the skies are reopened.
Similarly, Wizz Air said in June that it could put on as many as 150 Ukraine flights within three years of regaining access to the country’s airports.
Never ceases to be frustrating how things continue to be slow walked and trying to put the cart before the horse.