The flag carrier and largest airline in Ukraine is Ukraine International Airlines PJSC, or UIA for short. It has its headquarters in Kyiv and its main hub at Kyiv's Boryspil International Airport. It provides cargo and passenger flights to Europe, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, and Asia, as well as domestic and international flights.
It was established as a replacement for Ukraine Airlines, a remnant of the Soviet era in which Aeroflot's main office in Moscow had financial and commercial control over each country's operating airline until the breakup of the Soviet Union, when the aircraft at each airport became the property of the state in which they were grounded. At the beginning of 1992, the aviation minister in Ukraine at the time agreed to lease two B37-400s from GPA and establish a new airline with "internationally acceptable standards of safety, reliability, and service between Ukraine and Europe."