TAG Aviation Ukraine is expecting the arrival of a new business jet within the month. While the company's 1966-built Falcon 20 is currently being sold, TAG's Ukraine outfit is hoping to replace it with an aircraft of increased range, although, admits the company, the final choice rests with Geneva.

Operations manager Oleg Liakhotskii told EBAN: "It should have a better range, something like that of a Falcon 20 retrofitted or a Falcon 50. We can make suggestions to the owners of the company but the final decision will be come from Geneva. Range and price are the most important aspects."

TAG Aviation Ukraine's Falcon 20 is not retrofitted. Nonetheless, Liakhotskii says it has served the company admirably. He said: "It is a very reliable aircraft with a good reputation. It is still good good enough for some customers but not everybody."

In the past, says Liakhotskii, foreign companies such as Philip Morris and Shell have made most use of TAG Aviation Ukraine's services. However, more recently, local individuals have taken to chartering the Falcon 20. Said Liakhotskii: "They are mostly flying inside the Ukraine, sometimes to Moscow."

When companies fly outside the homeland, Liakhotskii says that common destinations have included Austria, Italy, France, Spain and the UK.

TAG Aviation Ukraine's long-term plans are to build a new hangar. However, said Liakhotskii, in the meantime there is other work to be done. He said: "Our first step will be to create a General Aviation Terminal. If business continues to grow, then the next step will be to build a hangar."

Currently one main runway is under construction at the company's Borispol Airport base. The GAT, just in project stage at this time, would be built close to this main runway with , as Liakhotskii says, "our own exit to the airfield".

It is Liakhotskii's impression that 25 per cent of the country's business aviation visitor arrive in US-registered aircraft. Most of the rest, he said, roll in from Europe.