POLYARNY AIRLINES: 13 Kirov Street, Office 454, Yakutsk, Russia; Phone 7 (4112) 241873; Fax 7 (4112) 423085; Year Founded 1994. One of several small airlines in Russia’s Sakha region, Polyarny operates scheduled and charter flights throughout the area employing a fleet of 1 Tupolev Tu-154 and 2 Antonov An-26s, plus several An-24s and An-2 biplanes. Like Pulkovo Airlines, the company is part of an airport component that includes the airports at Chersky, Ust-Nera, Sangar, and Mama. Many of the carrier’s flights are made on behalf of the Sakha and Russian ministries of health, defense, state, and internal affairs. A significant number of the services are air ambulance missions.
The Russian currency crisis that begins in August 1998 and the escalating rise in the price of aviation fuel have a devastating impact on the airline. Fuel shortages are so great that, during the winter of 1999, the airline is only able to survive because of some judicious product reserving, as availability becomes both short and expensive. By the new year, it is reported that the airline’s finances have also reached a point of near collapse. With no funds to pay utility bills, the airline’s facilities are reportedly unheated.
The airline is not as lucky in 2000 as it had been earlier. The Sakha government continues to build up a tremendous debt with the airline, as do agencies of the Russian government in Moscow.
An effort is made in April to redress the situation. The regional government decrees that the airline be restructured and that the nine airports for which it has also been responsible be stripped off, leaving the carrier as a freestanding entity. The airports will, in fact, be far worse off as they are saddled with the debt of the previous combined enterprise and will, as the year moves on, suffer significant declines in traffic.
The situation for Polyarny, on the other hand, is not greatly improved. It will suffer a continued downturn in income while being ordered to pay fuel debts of 3.4 million rubles to its supplier, AirportGSMservice. At this point, the airline is owed 174 million rubles by various government departments.
The situation is further exacerbated when the airline’s leaders agree to accept two An-74s from the Sakha Aviation Training Centre. It will cost the airline 900,000 rubles a month to operate the aircraft at a time when its revenues total only 300,000 rubles a month. Two An-26s are sold to help increase income.
In June, staff of Polyarny Airlines, concerned over the allocation of funds to the pilots’ pension fund and the An-26 disposal, appeal to the Sakha Aviation Department seeking an independent audit of the company.
During the summer and into the fall, the situation worsens and the Tu-154 must be parked. It is possible to continue flying one each An-2 and An-24, the latter employed on a scheduled route from Yakutsk to Batagai.
Lack of fuel, due to shortages and debts, forces Polyarny to cease operations on October 16. The shutdown results in delays of up to 40 days for flights into such remote locations as Nizhneyamsk. In November, Deputy Director General A. Gabyshev enlists the support of the deputy chairman of Il Tumen, the Sakha parliament, V. Filatov in an effort to obtain relief from the government. Hoped for are either repayment of the debts owed the carrier or permission to establish its own fares independently.
At the beginning of December, Filatov and Aviation Staff Trade Union of Sakha director Mikhail Vasilyev are able to convince the regional government to make available 11.8 million rubles (of 14 million rubles requested) to the local ministry of health for payments (in two 6 -million ruble tranches) to four regional carriers, including Polyarny. The infusion allows Polyarny to resume limited services during the Christmas holiday.
As the year ends, the Sakha Regional Aviation Department appoints Semen Terkhov to take over as Polyarny’s new director general. At the same time, it notes that the airline does not have sufficient income to purchase fuel, to keep its aircraft airworthy, or to maintain required safety levels. It is suggested that it may be necessary to shut the company down by refusing to renew its operating license when it expires on February 18.
In late January 2001, the company’s license to operate scheduled services will be suspended, forcing it to become a charter operator. Analysts will suggest that the government will not, in fact, shut down the airline, but will first give new Director General Terkhov an opportunity to win new funding from Moscow. Terkhov, since the announcement of his appointment, has been busily lobbying the Federal Civil Aviation Service (GSGA) for help.
POLYET AIRLINE: Sophia Perovskaya Str. 37A, Voronezh, 394035, Russia; Phone 7 (0732) 556 710; Fax 7 (0732) 550 661; Http://www. polet. ru; Code POT; Year Founded 1995. Polyet is set up at Voronezh in 1995 to offer worldwide all-cargo charters, as well as domestic and regional passenger charters. Anatoly S. Karpov is director general and he begins revenue flights with 2 each Antonov An-26s and Yakovlev Yak-42Ds, plus 1 Yak-40.
The An-26s are replaced in 1996 by a pair of An-124-100 Ruslans. The workforce reaches 100 employees.
In 1997, the Kompomash concern develops the idea for air-launched missiles that will take satellites into space. The proposal is similar to a 1970s USAF scheme for dropping cruise missiles from Lockheed C-5s and will rival the current U. S. Orbital Sciences program, which deploys the Pegasus launcher from below the fuselage of a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. A letter of intent is singed with Polyet for the joint development of this launch system.
In 1998, Kompomash and Polyet reform their joint enterprise into the Air Launch Aerospace Corporation (ALAC), taking on as additional partners the Khimavtomatika Design Bureau and the BoRo Corporation. The Makeev and Myasishchev design bureaus will be brought in later. During the year, the company receives an Award of Excellence from the U. K.-based Institute of Transport Management.
Polyet, which has operated throughout the CIS, Eastern Europe, and the Far East without incident since its beginning becomes embroiled in a political controversy during the first quarter of 1999.
While making a refueling stop at Baku, Azerbaijan, on March 18, an An-124-100 is detained by security police from the Azeri National Security Ministry, who question its documentation. Upon examination it is found to be transporting 6 MiG-21 fighter planes and 30 “suspicious passengers,” believed to be Russian military personnel and engineers. The personnel aboard the aircraft, which has landed from Kazakhstan, initially indicate to the independent Azeri news agency Turan that their destination is Yugoslavia, but they then change it to North Korea.
Inspectors are at a loss to explain why the plane is at Baku, which is far to the west of either Kazakhstan or North Korea. Paperwork is discovered indicating that the plane is actually en route to Liberec in the Czech Republic.
Reports begin to circulate in the Western media on March 23 that the seized Russian cargo plane had been bound for Yugoslavia in breach of an international arms embargo against Belgrade in place for some years. The matter is now particularly sensitive in that NATO will, with 24 hours, be attacking Yugoslav targets in an effort to force Yugoslav leaders to sign a peace accord for its unruly Kosovo province. Before returning to Russia from an unfinished mission to Washington, D. C., Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov denies his nation is attempting to break the international arms embargo.
The Russian foreign ministry sends a note to its Baku counterpart on March 24 indicating that the cargo aboard the detained Ruslan is not Moscow’s property. The following day, the Azeri foreign ministry requests that Russian Ambassador Alexander Blokhin provide assistance in inspecting the aircraft and settling the incident. Help is not forthcoming and, with several versions of events and destinations, a criminal probe of the cargo is launched.
Over the next five days, both Russia and Kazakhstan continue to deny reports that the Ruslan had been bound for Yugoslavia, claiming instead that the giant transport had been chartered to deliver Kazakh planes to Slovakia.
Following a meeting with Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov on March 29, President Haydar Aliyev of Azerbaijan orders the release of the Russian cargo plane and its four crew. The 6 MiG fighter jets and 30 passengers will, however, be required to remain behind under investigation in the ex-Soviet republic.
On March 31, the An-124-100 and its four-man crew is allowed to fly to Russia; its cargo of fighter planes and its 30 passengers remain behind under investigation.
Services are maintained without further incident or headline during the remainder of the year. The carrier quietly acquires licenses for flights to the U. S. and upgrades its two An-124-100s to the latest international standards by equipping them with hush kits, GPS, TACAS, and modern communications gear. The company’s outsize charters generate revenues of $300 million for the year.
During the first quarter of 2000, the government turns over the first two of four former Russian Air Force An-124s the carrier is to receive in order for it to support the ALAC program. The aircraft are delivered without engines and essential on-board equipment and will require from 6 to 12 months to be converted to civil standard.
Director General Karpov, on behalf of Polyet, receives the Global Cargo Airline 2000 Award from the Institute of Transport Management in Moscow ceremonies on April 14.
In its December issue, Flight International reveals that the ALAC, formed two years earlier, has won Russian government approval to proceed with its satellite air-launch program. Permission is received to have the Avistar factory at Ulyanovsk modify four RusAF An-124s, the last of which is taken over on September 28, to Dash-100 standard.
When the Ruslans, which Polet will operate, are delivered in 2003, they will take two-stage missiles to an altitude of 36,000 ft. for deployment. At that altitude, the tail ramp of the modified aircraft will be lowered and the parachute-equipped launch vehicle will roll out. Six seconds after exit, the missile’s first stage will fire, boosting the satellite on its way into orbit.
POLYNESIAN AIRLINES, LTD.: P. O. Box 599, Beach Road, Apia, Western Samoa; Phone 685 21261; Fax 685 20023; Http://www. poly-nesianairlines. co. nz; Code PH; Year Founded 1959. Formed at Apia on May 7, 1959, major share holders in Polynesian include the government of Western Samoa, Tasman Empire Airways, Ltd., Fiji Airways, Ltd., and private local interests. Revenue flight operations commence with a Percival Prince in March 1960, just after the collapse of Samoan Airlines, Ltd.
Following national independence in 1962, the company acquires a Douglas DC-3 and begins additional routes, to the Cook Islands, in 1963. The route network grows during the remainder of the decade to include links between Apia, Nadi, Funamotu, Tafuna, and Niue Island.
The DC-3 with three crew crashes into the Apolima Strait on May 11, 1966 while on a training flight from Faleolo Airport; there are no survivors. A replacement DC-3 arrives in 1968.
Almost immediately after takeoff from Falulua, Western Samoa, on January 13, 1970, Flight 208B, the DC-3D with 3 crew and 29 passengers, encounters turbulence sufficient to cause a stall, leading to a crash into the sea and subsequent explosion; there are no survivors.
The Douglas had been the only aircraft owned by the carrier at the beginning of the year. Two Hawker Siddley HS 748s replacements and a Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander allow services to resume some weeks later.
Operations continue apace in 1971 and 1972 with enplanements in the latter year reaching 51,090.
Although the fleet size remains the same in 1973, the workforce is now 183.
Passenger boardings jump 21.4% to 65,000 and freight traffic swells 43% to 67,000 FTKs flown.
Twelve employees are laid off in 1974 or not replaced. The carrier’s 2 HS 748s transport a total of 79,459 passengers for a 7% increase. Cargo skyrockets 54% to 100,000 FTKs.
Flights continue apace in 1975-1976. The carrier is restructured in 1977 and the ownership pattern changes; the majority shareholder becomes the government of Western Samoa (70%).
In November, employing a Boeing 737-219 leased from Air New Zealand, Ltd. (successor to Tasman Empire Airways, Ltd.), scheduled services are started to Auckland and Raratonga. Simultaneously, the internal service linking the islands of Upolo and Savaii are also taken over.
Airline employment at General Manager J. T. Betham’s carrier totals 170 in 1978. Beginning on February 25, the leased Boeing is employed to inaugurate flights from Apia to Auckland via Nuku Alofa, Tonga.
Operations continue apace in 1979-1981, during which years an Australian-made Government Aircraft Factories GAF N-22B Nomad christened Apaula is acquired.
In 1982, a management contract is signed with Ansett Airlines of Australia (Pty.), Ltd. that also provides a B-727-277 under contract, the ANZ Boeing being returned.
By the middle 1980s, Niue, Noumea, Pago Pago, Papeete, Sydney, Tongatapu, Vava, and Vila are added into the route network.
In 1985, the fleet comprises the leased Ansett jetliner, painted one side in Polynesian colors and the other side in the colors of Cook Islands International, Ltd., which leases the craft part-time. Also leased are two GAF Nomad N-22Bs and two Islanders; gone are the HS 748s.
Operations continue apace in 1986 and the management contract with Ansett Airlines of Australia (Pty.), Ltd. is renewed in July 1987 for another 10 years.
Declining traffic and revenues toward decade’s end bring significant changes. The leased Boeing is returned and in 1988, General Manager J. Buchanan’s airline is flying only between the islands of Savaii and Upolo, employing only one BN-2. Still, a Polypass program is initiated, giving travelers unlimited travel for 30 days anywhere on the company’s route network.
A Boeing 727 is acquired in late 1989 and employed to restart flights to American Samoa in 1990. Acting General Manager J. Moynihan is appointed to replace Buchanan for a year and a new de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter is purchased to link the domestic islands. Flights to and between Sydney and Auckland begin in November.
A B-737-3Q8 and a B-737-3S3QC arrive under charter in 1991-1992 and routes to Nadi and Tongatupu are reopened. Ansett withdraws from its support contract during the latter year and five years of legal wrangling and claims will follow. A B-767-209ER is wet-leased from Air New Zealand, Ltd.
In 1993, the 319-employee fleet of the new general manager, Papalii Grant Percival, comprises the 2 B-737-300s, 1 DHC-6-300, and 1 BN-2 Islander. Schedules are maintained as the Kiwi jetliner is replaced by a B-767-333ER chartered from Air Canada, Ltd.
The wet-leased B-767-333ER is returned to Canada on April 15, 1994. Although an operational success, at $2 million a month, the wide-body is too expensive for the small carrier to operate. Arrangements are made to replace the wide-body with a used Kuwait Airways Corporation being marketed by Fortis Aviation for $40 million. As financial difficulties continue, an interline agreement with Hawaiian Airlines (HAL) is suspended.
In February 1995, a commercial arrangement is entered into with Air New Zealand, Ltd., which will provide for code-sharing, joint sales and marketing, and other coordinated activities. While the Air New Zealand, Ltd. B-737-200 is grounded for engine repairs in March and April, the company leases its B-737-3S3QC to the New Zealand flag carrier. It also charters the former B-767-269 from Fortis Aviation. Ltd. Part of the cost and a shared route are born by Royal Tongan Airlines, Ltd. and, as a result, the aircraft also wears that company’s markings as well.
In February 1996, the company begins code-sharing flights with Air New Zealand, Ltd. to Apia, Samoa, from Wellington and Auckland. Although traffic figures are not provided, it is announced that the net profit has been doubled to $869,000.
Destinations visited in 1997 include the New Zealand cities, as well as Melbourne, Nadi, Pago Pago, Rarotonga, Sydney, and Tongatapu.
Operating as Flight 211, the DHC-6-300 with two crew and three passengers, is forced by bad weather to divert from its intended destination of Pago Pago. The turboprop crashes into Mount Baea, near Faleolo Airport at Moamoa, its new destination, on January 7 (three dead).
On July 10, The Samoa Observer leaves a blank space in its front page where it was to have printed 19 charges concerning the management of the state-owned carrier. The nation’s Supreme Court had ordered it not to publish its allegations and turns down a petition against its restraining injunction. CEO Richard Gates and Flight Operations Manager Ian Gemmell, meanwhile, continue a defamation lawsuit against the newspaper for its earlier reporting of the DHC-6 accident.
On September 3, the carrier reaches a settlement with Ansett Australia (Pty.), Ltd. over claims arising from their severed 1992 support contract; exact terms are not made public. A code-sharing agreement signed a month earlier begins with Royal Tongan Airlines, Ltd. on October 28. Under its terms, Polynesian’s current weekly service from Apia to Melbourne via Wellington will be extended by way of Tonga.
Profits are reported for the year, although the exact figure is not released.
Flights continue in 1998. The company now operates nine daily flights between the two Samoas, employing Twin Otters.
The agreement with Hawaiian Airlines, (HAL), suspended some four years earlier, is reinstated on December 7. The interline agreement covers both passengers and bags transferred between the Samoan-government owned carrier and HAL. Simultaneously, the American Samoa attorney general has waived an entry permit requirement for HAL transit passengers passing through Pago Pago on their way to Samoa.
Storms batter the two Samoas during mid-December, disrupting flight schedules. One of the company’s DHC-6s is badly damaged in a ground accident at Faleolo Airport on December 20, leaving only one Twin Otter to ferry passengers and cargo.
The continuing feud with The Samoa Observer heats up again in February 1999. The airline is able to win a restraining order barring the newspaper from using leaked airline documents that reveal details of advances and allowances paid to senior company staff. The details of the documents are, nevertheless, published abroad.
In early March, the airline goes to court seeking to have the publisher of the country’s only daily newspaper arrested and sentenced for contempt of court. On March 10, Radio Australia reports that The Samoa News, located on neighboring American Samoa, has requested that the U. S. government file a protest and the local leaders retaliate for the company’s action by banning the Samoan ferry boat from entering the harbor at Pago Pago.
Under terms of a new code-sharing agreement with Qantas Airways (Pty.), Ltd. that takes effect on November 1, Polynesian is able to expand its Trans Tasman services from three of its own B-737-3Q8 flights made with the owned jetliner Tooa, to a total of eight, including five flights operated by Qantas. In addition, Qantas is able to have its own seats available on six Polynesian flights per week, including through-flights from Melbourne to Wellington and on to Apia and from Sydney to Auckland and Apia. Qantas also shares two flights per week from Sydney to Auckland.
Service is maintained in 2000. On November 14, the company takes delivery of the first of two B-737-8Q8s it has chartered long-term from ILFC. The new aircraft, wearing a revised “rainbow” color scheme, is placed into service on November 25, offering direct twice-weekly return flights from Apia to Australia and Honolulu.
World History
