Has four major divisions at the airports around Moscow. The Central Region Civil Aviation Department (CRCAD) (Bykovo Avialinii) is based at Bykovo, 30 miles SW of the capital. The CRCAD is responsible for all medium - and short-range commercial flights in the nation west of the Ural Mountains. Ivan S. Makarov is director general and the fleet includes some 125 Russian-made airliners, including Tupolev Tu-134s, Yakovlev Yak-40s/-42s, and Antonov An-24s/-26s/-32s.
While on final approach to Ivanov on an August 27 service from Donetsk, a Tu-134A with 7 crew and 77 passengers strikes a line of trees 2,962 m. from the runway and crashes; there are no survivors.
Enplanements for the year total 1,928,784.
A large portion of Aeroflot’s Bykovo directorate becomes a joint-stock company in 1993, with shareholding divided between the state (51%) and company employees (49%). The fleet is reduced to 25 An-24s, 10 An-26s, and 12 Yak-42s, plus 5 Mil Mi-8/-17 helicopters. The name “Bykovo Avia” appears on airplane titles and A. A. Mukhin is director general, with Gennady I. Sytnik as general manager. Customer bookings fall off 43% to 1,342,230 while cargo traffic drops 35.1% to 172.4 million FTKs.
Service is maintained in 1994, but traffic begins an even more spectacular plunge.
The cockpit crew of an An-24B with 4 crew and 28 passengers retracts the landing gear prematurely while taking off from Kherson, Ukraine, on July 17; the aircraft settles onto the runway on its belly and there are no injuries reported. Passenger boardings decline 39.6% to 810,700, while freight falls another 12.8% to 150 million FTKs.
Although there are no reported accidents, business steadily declines in 1995 with only 497,608 passengers flown. Boardings are down to
466,000 in 1996, but bounce back to 182,268 in 1997.
The fleet during these years is reduced to 10 An-24s, 6 An-26s, and 10 Yak-42s.
The currency devaluation of summer 1998 has a dreadful impact on company revenues. A new management team arrives in December and optimistically announces the planned inauguration of international services the following summer. Customer bookings this year again drop to 166,000.
Airline employment stands at 2,500 at the beginning of 1999. With only half of the 12-unit Yak fleet airworthy, 2 more of the type are leased short-term in June from the Irish concern Corvette Aviation, while the others are refurbished. All wear new liveries.
Service to Stuttgart and Hanover begins in late summer.
The airline is renamed Tsentr Avia on May 5, 2000.
BYLINA: Bykovo Airport 19, Sovetskaya Str., Moscow, 140150, Russia; Phone 095-558-4504; Fax 095-501-6500; Code BA; Year Founded 1992. Bylina is established at Bykovo Airport in 1992 to provide regional charter passenger and cargo services. By 2000, Valentine A. Cherkasov is general manager and he oversees a 57-person workforce and flights provided by 3 Yak 40s.
C AIR: United States (1964-1966). Long Beach, California-based C & W Aviation establishes this flight division in the fall of 1964. Employing a de Havilland DH 104 Dove, the unit inaugurates scheduled passenger and cargo commuter flights to Los Angeles, Riverside, and Redlands on November 16, maintaining them until 1966.
C & M AIRLINES: United States (1979-1982). C & M is established at Inyokern, California, in early spring 1979 to offer scheduled passenger services to Los Angeles. Airline employment is 18 and 2 Cessna 402s are employed to inaugurate flights on May 1. Enplanements total
6,000 by December 31.
The employee population is increased by 27.8% in 1980 to 23 and 3 more Cessna 402s are acquired. The 5 aircraft together board 13,411 passengers, a 123.7% boost.
The workforce grows to 50 in 1981 and the equipment numbers 6 Cessnas. Flights are inaugurated to Las Vegas, Palmdale, and Edwards AFB. Again, exact boardings are not made known; however, RPKs advance to 2.88 million.
Upon its sale, the privately owned airline changes its name to Mojave Airlines in early 1982.
World History
