Vitalii Portianko

30+ years in aviation | Former Odesa & Boryspil Airport Executive | Chair, Aviation Committee @ UCCI | Airlines • Airports • Ukraine 🇺🇦

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

30+ years in aviation taught me one thing:
Aviation is never just about aircraft.
It is about airlines, airports, ATM, regulation, infrastructure, economics — and the decisions connecting them.
I write about how this system works, where it fails, and how it can work better.
And, of course, about building the future of Ukrainian civil aviation. 🇺🇦
If these are your topics too — welcome aboard.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

We have already heard more than once about technical failures and concerns over the resilience of critical aviation infrastructure — and this is the UK. The causes of the recent incidents appear to be different, so there is currently no basis for suggesting external interference. But the recurrence of such failures raises another question: how ready are the backup systems when the primary system fails?

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

@flightradar24 It may seem that a certain pattern is emerging: first the UK, and now here. Is it just a coincidence, or is it already worth asking whether some form of external interference could be involved? Especially considering that these are far from the most peaceful times in the world.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

Unfortunately, passengers will pay for this with their time, while airlines will pay with real money. The disproportionate allocation of responsibility within the ATM system — where the consequences of its failures are largely borne by other participants in the aviation market — does not create sufficient economic incentives to improve service quality.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

@airplusnews War and civil aviation are incompatible: civil aviation either comes to a halt or operates under significant restrictions and losses.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

What really connects the world’s five best airlines?

Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, ANA and Turkish Airlines.
Different ages. Different ownership models. Different levels of state involvement. Different staffing models. Airbus and Boeing.
Four are Skytrax 5-Star airlines. One is not.

Yet all five reached the same Top 5.

Perhaps there is no single formula for building a great airline.

And that matters for Ukraine.

After the war, we should not simply ask how to bring civil aircraft back into our skies.

We should ask:

What kind of aviation system do we want to build?

There may be more than one path to a great airline.

What will the Ukrainian path be?

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

A calm sea beneath a dangerous sky over Odesa.
Sometimes, nature still gives us a chance for a moment of peace.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

Istanbul has just overtaken Heathrow as the world’s most connected international hub.
And today, Istanbul Airport opens its fourth main runway.
The contrast with Heathrow is striking.
Istanbul was designed with space to grow. Heathrow is still searching for a path to its third runway — through planning, environmental, political and capacity constraints.
This is more than a ranking.
Space itself has become a competitive advantage.
But Heathrow cannot create more geography.
So its answer cannot be infrastructure alone. ATM modernisation, operational efficiency and smarter use of existing capacity become increasingly important.

When you cannot compete with space, you have to compete with efficiency.

#Aviation #Airports #IstanbulAirport #Heathrow #ATM

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

@AeroCrewNews One of the two pilots had only about four months of experience on this aircraft type.
That fact alone proves nothing, but in the context of the investigation, it deserves attention.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

Fortunately for everyone, there was no dense development around the airfield. Otherwise, even the crew’s excellent actions might have been powerless to save people on the ground.
Cases like this should be shown to architects and city officials who approve development right up against airports.
Aviation safety does not end at the runway or the airport fence.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

A car in an airport’s sterile area? How?
Have we already decided that there are no people with bad intentions left in the world?

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

@fl360aero A car in an airport’s sterile area? How?
Have we already decided that there are no people with bad intentions left in the world?

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

Social media turned us into writers and filmmakers.
eVTOLs will turn us into pilots.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

When the President of the UAE arrives in Berlin after Emirates wins a long-running battle for commercial rights, that is one story.

But when the President of Ukraine personally receives the head of a foreign low-cost carrier in the capital, while Ukrainian airlines are fighting hard to build their own hub, that is a very different story.

The question is not whether competition is necessary. It is.

The question is whether the state should simply remain neutral toward the commercial interests of all carriers — or also create the conditions for its own aviation industry to compete and develop.

Sometimes a single meeting says a lot about the aviation policy a country is building.

Everyone remembers the airline CEO. But does everyone remember who was President of Ukraine at the time?

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

The UAE President was in Berlin on a state visit.

During the same visit, the UAE announced €40 billion in new investment in Germany — and Emirates gained expanded traffic rights, including Berlin.
Perhaps this is a good example of how a state can support the commercial interests of its airline.
Sometimes aviation is much more than aviation.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

Very professional work by the crew. A complex and dangerous situation, but this is exactly the kind of scenario crews train for in simulators.
Today, it is not only the crew that prepares for such emergency landings — airport rescue and firefighting services do as well. Depending on the circumstances and procedures, the runway or designated landing area may be treated with firefighting foam in advance.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

@fl360aero Amazon, in my view, is also an affected party here. It entrusted the operation to an air carrier — and is now also facing the consequences of what happened.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

@BLackgold_5 Мав честь спілкування з Галун��нко Олександром Васильовичем який першим хо підняв цей літак в небо.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

@tengizlab Норма 3 мм

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

@airmainengineer When there are no roads and airfields are scarce, a vast territory is no longer an advantage.

And when a state is constantly preparing for war, technology is built not for comfort, but to overcome distance.

Then geography becomes a weapon — not a land for happiness.

[Vitalii Portianko @PortiankoVP]

@xAviation Engineers spend decades reducing fuel consumption.
Politicians sometimes need just one decision to increase its price.