Aeroflex is created at Andover, New Jersey, in late fall 1958 to provide daily passenger air shuttle flights to New York (LGA). Beech 18 round-trips commence on December 2 and are maintained for a decade.
AEROFLOT-DON: Sholokova Prospeki 272, Rostov-on-Don, 344009, Russia; Phone 7 (8632) 52 50; Fax 7 (8632) 52 05 67; Code D9; Year Founded 2000. Aeroflot Russian International Airlines (ARIA) purchases a 51% majority stake in Donavia (Donskie Avi-alinii) on July 26, 2000, and renames the carrier. Pavel Douznikov remains director general of the 2,100-employee company, which operates a fleet of 5 Antonov An-12s, 8 Tupolev Tu-134As, and 15 Tu-154Bs. Under the new partnership, the two carriers engage in code-sharing, as well as joint maintenance, ground handling, and service activities.
Aeroflot-Don continues to offer scheduled passenger and charter services, as well as Mideast charters. Destinations visited include Dubai, Dusseldorf, Ekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Istanbul, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Larnaca, Moscow, Omsk, Rostov, St. Petersburg, Tashkent, Tel Aviv, Tyumen, Vladivostok, and Yerevan.
AEROFLOT-PERM: Aeroport Boishoe Savino, Perm, 614078, Russia; Phone 7 (3422) 284 325; Fax 7 (3422) 274 492; Code 9D; Year Founded 2000. On October 1, 2000, executives of Aeroflot Russian
International Airlines (ARIA) announce the creation of a new airline, Aeroflot-Perm, which incorporates Perm State Air Enterprise: Permskoe Gosudartsvennoe A/P. Under the new partnership, the two carriers engage in code-sharing, as well as joint maintenance, groundhandling, and service activities.
The reformed 1,000-employee carrier continues to operate a fleet that includes three Antonov An-24Bs, three An-26s, four Tupolev Tu-134As, five Tu-154Bs, one Tu-204-100, and a Yakovlev Yak-40. Aeroflot-Perm flies the regional services from Perm previously flown by both companies. Scheduled destinations include: Adler/Sochi, Anapa, Antalya, Baku, Bourgas, Chisinau, Ekaterinburg, Frankfurt, Krasnodar, Larnaca, Mineralnye Vody, Moscow, Samara, St. Petersburg, Tashkent, Varna, and Yerevan.
AEROFLOT RUSSIAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES (ARIA): 37a Leningradsky Prospekt, Building 9, Moscow, 125167, Russia; Phone 7 (095) 155 66 41; Fax 7 (095) 155 66 47; Http://www. aeroflot. ru; Http://www. aeroflot. org; Http://aeroflot. russianet. ru; Http://www. seanet. com/bazar/aeroflot/aeroflot. html; Code SU; Year Founded 1992. Prior to the breakup of the U. S.S. R., commercial aviation is controlled by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA), which acts as the head office of the 34 units of Aeroflot Soviet Airlines. Each unit has its own operational and technical staff, with almost all of the commercial workers staffed in a division called the International Commercial Division of Civil Aviation, the MKU. Its staff of about 600 is minute when compared to the 600,000-plus that work in the divisions of Aeroflot.
In early 1992, the Interrepublic Aviation Committee (Mezhgosu-doiahrenniy Avitsionniy Komitet or MAK) of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), under Dr. Tatiana Anodina, begins to dismantle Aeroflot Soviet Airlines, now officially known as PKO Aeroflot Soviet Airlines.
En route from Agdam to Shusha on January 28, a Mil Mi-8 helicopter with 47 passengers is hit by a surface-to-air guided missile, explodes, and crashes 10 km. S of Stepanakert, Azerbaijan. There are no survivors. The disaster results in the highest death toll ever recorded in a commercial rotary-wing accident.
Through February, the former monolithic carrier is split into 69 independent operators from CIS’s independent republics. Additionally, some of these are reformed former Soviet directorates, which are now semiautonomous divisions and will be covered separately: Arkhangelski Avia Koncern; Baikalavia Bashkir Airlines; Central Regions Civil Aviation Department; Domodedovo; Far East Aviation Corporation; Government Air Services; Kaliningrad Aviation Division; Kazair; Kirgistan Airlines; Komiavia; Krasnoyarskavia; Magadan Avia Koncern; West Air Department; Orbi-Gerogian Airlines; Siberian Airlines; Southern Airlines; Tartarstan Airlines; Tyume-naviatrans; Urals Civil Aviation Department; Vnukovskie Avialinii; and Yakutaviatrans. Information will prove difficult to obtain in some cases and when the government in 1994 enacts a new tax on passenger numbers, many carriers will simply stop reporting their traffic figures, leaving any such numbers mere estimates. Many of these names will disappear over the next five years.
The international commercial department, or MKU, with its 600-person staff from the old Aeroflot is attached to the international division of Aeroflot, formerly called the Central Department of International Air Services (CUMVS). The two units are joined in Aeroflot PKO, which controls Aeroflot Russian International Airways and the granting of international licenses on behalf of the Russian central government.
These international airline assets and the old Aeroflot international commercial directorate are merged at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in February and renamed Aeroflot Russian International Airlines (ARIA); the charter subdivisions, Moscow Airways, Gold Star Airways, and Russky Vityaz are included and they will be the focus under this heading. Also received are the superseded international division’s aircraft, engines and spares, 20,000-person staff, ground facilities, ticket offices, a number of hotels, and other operations. The 12 members of the CIS, together with the republics of Latvia and Estonia, agree to pay fixed fees to the reformed carrier to maintain their international flights.
The brand name of Aeroflot Soviet Airlines is transformed into ARIA. The Russian government also transfers all of the former’s rights and obligations to Aeroflot RIA, which became its legal successor with regard to all intergovernmental bilateral agreements on air transport services signed by the Russian Federation and the former USSR, and those signed by Aeroflot with foreign airlines. Aeroflot RIA becomes the only officially designated flag carrier of the Russian Federation and this designation will receive international recognition in a special memorandum signed with IATA at the end of the year.
The company is headed by a board led by the old directorate’s chief, Vladimir V. Potapov, and Vladimir M. Tikhonov, once in charge of the Central Department’s International Commercial Division. Other members of the board include Dr. Anodina, representatives of the CIS states and the city of Moscow, and officials from the State Committee for Foreign Relations of the Russian Republic and the Air Transport Department of the Russian Republic’s Ministry of Transportation.
There are, initially, three subsidiary flight organizations. Moscow Airways, a passenger charter operation, is outfitted with Ilyushin Il-76s, and Gold Star Airways is given Tupolev Tu-154s with instructions to visit those locations their type frequented in the days of the old directorate. Russky Vityaz is an all-cargo effort, into which is concentrated all Il-76s. These so-called “sister companies” will not be successful and will be submerged within the major during the next year. One other concern, Rossiya Air Company, is established to provide government VIP flights; its fleet will include the presidential jetliner.
An Mi-26 with 50 passengers is shot down over Kelbadzhar, Armenia, on March 3 by Azeri rebels (14 dead).
An An-30 with 5 crew and 5 passengers crashes near Yakutia, Russia, on March 22; there are no survivors.
A Moscow-Bombay-Harare route is opened on March 25. Just after takeoff from Stepanakert, Azerbaijan, on a scheduled service to Yerevan, Armenia, on March 27, a Yak-40 with 3 crew and 30 passengers is hit by a surface-to-air missile. Although 10 people are injured, the aircraft is able to make a safe emergency landing back at its point of origin.
Direct Moscow-Anchorage-San Francisco Ilyushin Il-62M flights commence on March 29 and on the same day a weekly service is inaugurated from Tokyo (NRT) to Madrid (continuing to Copenhagen) via Moscow.
Weekly frequencies commence on May 1 between Moscow and San Francisco via Anchorage, while Moscow to Chicago via Shannon service begins on May 15.
Having arrived at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport on June 8 on a service from Groanyy and continuing to Turkey, a Tu-154B-2 is subjected to a hijack attempt by a lone man armed with a gun. Before he can solidify his hold over the aircraft, he is killed by a security guard.
ATu-154B-1 is destroyed in a ground accident at Bratsk, Russia, on June 19; there are no fatalities.
In early July, the new era in Russian commercial aviation is fully demonstrated when the first of 5 ordered Airbus Industrie A310-308s are delivered, painted in the carrier’s new livery.
An An-12 with 34 passengers crashes near Nakhichevan, Azerbaijan, on July 14 and catches fire (29 dead).
ATu-154B with 8 crew and 16 passengers fails its takeoff from Tbilisi on July 20, overruns the runway, crashes into a localizer building, overturns, and descends into a ravine; all aboard are killed, along with 4 people on the ground.
Later in the month, a marketing agreement is signed with Challenge Air Cargo; under its terms, the two airlines agree to feed each other’s routes between Europe and Latin America, via Miami.
Hong Kong from Moscow direct A310-308 service begins on August 15. On August 27, a Tu-154M coming in from Mineralni Vody with 82 aboard, crashes while on its landing approach to Ivanovo; there are no survivors. Also on August 27, an Il-76 is destroyed in a ground incident at Kabul.
An An-24B with 4 crew and 46 passengers fails its takeoff from Guryev, Kazakhstan, on September 2; the plane comes around for an emergency landing, but descends too quickly and after touchdown slides 418 m. on half-retracted landing gear; although the aircraft is destroyed, there are no fatalities.
Another Tu-154M, chartered by the International Red Cross, flies 68 injured Bosnian refugees from Banj to London (STN) on September 15; they are deplaned and taken for medical treatment.
While on a test flight from Kiev on October 13, an An-124-100 with nine crew crashes into a forest (eight dead).
Late in the month, a third A310-308 is delivered; christened Tchaikovsky, it is the first to display the carrier’s new double-headed eagle logo.
An Il-62M is destroyed on the ground at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport on October 16. On October 30, an Antonov An-8 freighter crashes 2 km. from Chita, in southern Siberia; the five crew and nine passengers are killed and the cargo of three automobiles and two tons of fish and canned goods is destroyed.
An An-22A with 33 passengers crashes near Tver on November 11; there are no survivors.
Also in late fall, a control tower in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia goes dark because the airport has not paid its electricity bill. Several planes circle above—including an aircraft carrying President Boris Yeltsin. Catastrophe is averted when a high-ranking security aide reportedly orders the power restored.
ARIA is fully privatized as of December 1. The airline, exclusively Russian, now demands that the carriers of the other republics in the CIS remove the name of Aeroflot from their new carriers.
The Il-96-300 is certified on December 29.
Overall passenger boardings for the year plunge 51.3% to 62,627 100 (all but 2.62 million being domestic) and freight declines 35.8% to 2.35 billion FTKs. Still, the company’s annual report will claim the successful completion of 45,318 international flights and an after-tax profit of $120 million.
In 1993, chairman Potapov oversees a workforce of 14,076, up 6.6% over the previous year. The fleet now includes 4 A310-308s, 28 Il-62Ms, 19 Il-86s and the same number of Il-76s, 23 Tupolev Tu-154Ms, 4 Tu-154Bs, 3 Tu-154Cs and 8 Tu-134A-3s. Smaller types are also flown, bringing the fleet total to 117, excluding over 4,500 helicopters and specialized lightplanes.
Orders are outstanding for Boeing 767-300ERs, an A310-308, Tu-204s, and Il-96-300s.
The hammer-and-sickle livery of the “old” Aeroflot remains, as company officials are unable to agree upon new coloring. Operating for 60 years as the Soviet Civil Aviation Ministry (CMUVS), Aeroflot is now, finally, recognized by the U. S. government as a business and not a foreign mission of the Communist government.
Also during the month, the Russian government issues a decree ordering that all of the airports owned by ARIA are to be privatized and upgraded.
On February 20, armed with hand grenades, an Azerbajani man accompanied by his family hijacks a Tu-154 with 80 aboard in an effort to fly them to the U. S. Proceeding via Talinn, Estonia, the jetliner arrives in Stockholm, where the man surrenders.
Also in February, the carrier joins with the Olympia-Reisen travel agency to market twice-weekly charter flights from Hanover, Germany, to Alma-Ata, in Kazakhstan. In March, scheduled service is inaugurated from St. Petersburg to London (STN).
In addition to domestic services, both charter and scheduled, the company also visits these foreign destinations from Moscow: Abu Dhabi, Accra, Addis Ababa, Aden, Algiers, Amman, Amsterdam, Anchorage, Ankara, Antananarivo, Athens, Baghdad, Bamako, Bangkok, Barcelona, Basel, Beijing, Beirut, Belgrade, Bombay, Bratislava, Brazzaville, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Bujumbura, Cairo, Calcutta, Casablanca, Chicago, Cologne/Bonn, Colombo, Conakry, Copenhagen, Cotonou, Dakar, Damascus, Dar es Salaam, Delhi, Djibouti, Douala, Dresden, Dubai, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Entebbe/Kampala, Karachi, Kathmandu, Kiev, Kigali, Kingston, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Larnaca, Leipzig, Lima, Lisbon, Lome, London, Luanda, Lusaka, Luxembourg, Lyublyna, Madrid, Malta, Managua, Marseilles, Mexico City, Miami, Milan, Montevideo, Montreal, Munich, Nagoya, Nairobi, New York, Oslo, Ouagadougou, Paris, Phnom Penh, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Sal, Saloniki, San Francisco, Sana’a, Santiago, Seoul, Shanghai, Shannon, Sharjah, Singapore, Sofia, Stockholm, Tehran, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Tripoli, Tunis, Ulan Bator, Venice, Vienna, Vientiane, Warsaw, Washington, Zagreb, and Zurich.
From Kiev, Aeroflot flies to Frankfurt, Milan, and New York; it operates from Khabarovsk to San Francisco, from Magadan to Anchorage, and from Irkutsk to Niigata, Shenian, and Ulan Bator. New passenger routes are introduced from Moscow to Sydney, Panama City, Barbados, and Johannesburg while new all-cargo frequencies begin to Beijing, Dubai, and Sharjah.
Service becomes notoriously bad and corrupt while safety questions arise. Mechanical breakdowns become common and fuel shortages ground hundreds of flights. Still, Vitaly Rzhevski’s Ulyanovsk-based VAU GA, Higher College of Training for Civil Aviation, remains a model of efficiency. The government now requires that the facility, which had become largely a conversion school for pilots as well as a training base for engineers, technicians, and ATC controllers, undertake all civil aviation training for the nation.
In the first of two aerial operations of the week (the second will involve Air Ukraine), the Odessa-based Schlepper gang, having received $5,000 per head, contracts with the carrier (also in need of hard currency) on April 6 to transport a planeload of Asian refugees into Germany. Next day, a Tu-154 arrives at Frankfurt Airport and deplanes 123 Indians and Pakistanis who immediately demand sanctuary.
A company Mi-8, transporting the 13-person “Transsibering” expedition from Nadym in west Siberia, crashes on the coast of the Chukchi Sea near the Arctic Circle on May 12; 10 people aboard are killed, including 2 French journalists and a Swiss.
The first 2 of 6 ordered Il-96-300s are received from the production factory in Voronezh (VASO) during the spring and are briefly placed into service as Flight 315 on the Moscow-New York (JFK) service in June. Enthusiastic Aeroflot crews will help the new Il-96-300 type overcome its initial problems.
In July, riot police must be called to Vnukovo Airport at Moscow to disperse some 350 angry passengers who have been waiting four days for a flight. Financial director Vladimir Tikhonov is appointed managing director in July; however, appointment of the tough manager must be reversed when the staff at Sheremetyevo Airport threatens to strike as a result.
While landing at Grozny after a December 25 service from Moscow, the nosegear of a Tu-154B-1 with 7 crew and 165 passengers, collapses; although the aircraft is damaged there are no fatalities.
On December 26, a chartered Antonov An-26 cargo plane, illegally carrying passengers, crashes in fog at the Armenian city of Gyumiei and explodes (35 dead). Examiners later report that two poorly secured automobiles filled with loaded gasoline cans, together with the carry-on gas cans of passengers, are responsible for the dive and blast. Political problems and increased ticket prices cause domestic enplanements to drop to 40 million.
Statistics for the year show total deaths in company accidents five times greater than in 1987. International customer bookings recover, however, from their free fall and accelerate by 19.3% to 3,111,530. Cargo traffic swells 15.2% to 1.65 billion FTKs. Profits are reported up by a full 20% to $171 million.
The workforce totals 14,838 in 1994. A Tu-154, with 124 aboard, crashes at Irkutsk on January 3; there are no survivors and 1 additional person is killed on the ground. Pilot error is again cited when examiners report that the plane’s captain had ignored warnings about his power plants, only to have an engine catch fire in midair causing the accident.
Just after takeoff from Voronezh on a January 19 all-cargo service, an An-22 with 7 crew and 3 passengers, suffers control difficulties and must make a forced landing, through trees, near the village of Antonovo (7 dead).
Late in January, service is inaugurated to Jerusalem’s Atarot Airport; under pressure from the Arab League, the new frequency is halted on February 1. Two weeks later, an Il-62M is grounded at Harare, Zimbabwe, after Air Zimbabwe Corporation refuses to provide it with any services until $1 million in backdated airport fees is paid. The money is received on February 21 and the airliner is returned empty to Russia.
While practicing touch-and-go landings at Delhi on March 8, the B-737-2U4 of Sahara India Airlines, Ltd. crashes into a parked Ilyushin Il-86 being prepared for departure to Moscow, killing all four of the private Indian carrier’s crew plus four people on the ground.
The airline is forced to halt some nonstop flights to the U. S. on March 15 after American authorities ban its new Ilyushin Il-96-300 jetliners pending the fitting of anticollision devices required for operation in the U. S.
Flight 593, an A310-308 piloted by Capt. Yaroslav Kudrinski en route from Moscow to Hong Kong, crashes into a remote Siberian forest near Novokuznetsk (2,000 mi. E of Moscow) on March 23 with its nose slightly up and wings level, killing all 75 aboard, including 23 foreigners.
A total of five major air transport accidents are suffered by the airline during the first quarter, 50% of all scheduled air transport crashes worldwide. Also in March, a new alliance with Cyprus Airways, Ltd. allows for twice-weekly service on a route from Moscow to Larnaca.
On April 5, Russian aviation officials, working with experts from the U. S. NTSB, report that cockpit recordings recovered from the “black boxes” show that the pilot of the fatal March 23 flight was teaching his children how to fly. One or more youngsters in the pilot’s seat accidentally disengaged the automatic controls and sent the jet into its fatal and unrecoverable dive from 33,000 feet.
With permission achieved from Japan’s Ministry of Transport, an Aeroflot An-24 in mid-month launches twice-weekly service between Yujino-Sakhalinsk on Sakhalin Island and Hakodate on Hokkaido Island. On April 18, the International Airline Passengers Association begins advising its members not to fly on Russian carriers; through month’s end, 195 people have been killed in Aeroflot accidents and crashes since January 1.
While preparing to land at Arkhangelsk on May 4, the crew of a Tu-134, with 62 aboard, discovers, when their landing gear only partially extends, that hydraulic fluid has been lost. To make up the difference, Capt. Georg Yelisayev directs that the remaining supply of lemonade from the galley be poured into the system, enabling the plane to make a safe emergency landing; although the Tupolev runs off the runway when its undercarriage collapses, no injuries are reported.
Some 50 Russian airline pilots picket the Russian parliament on May 16 on the eve of a threatened strike to protest deteriorating work conditions and unenforced safety regulations. The flyers carry banners reading: “Russian Passengers, You are the Most Courageous in the World!” On May 18, the pilots suspend their threatened strike action, promising to resume negotiations with the government.
On June 1, employing the Il-96M prototype, the company inaugurates twice-weekly nonstop passenger and cargo roundtrips from Moscow to Seattle. Three Il-76s are chartered by the United Nations and, on June 22, begin flying helicopters and vehicles to Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, in support of the international body’s intervention in the Rwanda crisis.
A pair of B-767-3Y0ERs are delivered on June 30 under lease from GE Capital Aviation Services and, later in the summer, becomes the first Russian airline company to use the craft, putting them into service on its routes to the East and West Coasts of the U. S.
On June 20, it is announced that the government will sell off up to 49% shareholding to its employees during the weeks ahead. Current workers and retired Aeroflot personnel will each be allowed to purchase up to 42 shares at 1,700 rubles (85 cents) each; a total of 1,071,333 shares will be offered and an analysis shows that 49% of the airline is worth only $926,000! As an added twist, workers will be required to pay for at least half of their investment with privatization vouchers, which will have to be employed before the nationwide voucher program ends on July 1.
Gennady Zaitsev becomes chairman, with Oleg Kachanov as deputy chairman on July 1. Formerly financial director, Vladimir Tikhonov is again appointed managing director on July 1, succeeding Vladimir Potapov. In mid-month, a pool agreement is entered into with LOT Polish Airlines, S. A. covering flights from Moscow to Warsaw.
Daily Tu-154M or Tu-134 service is inaugurated on July 25 from Sheremetyevo-1 Airport at Moscow to Riga, Vilnius, and Kiev and thrice-weekly roundtrips commence from the same point of origin to Tallin and Baku.
Growing concerns over Russian air safety lead the U. S. State Department, during the last week of July, to ban all but “absolutely necessary” travel on Russian carriers.
Service to the breakaway republic of Chechnya is suspended on August 8.
On September 6, Georgian security forces defuse a bomb placed aboard a company aircraft due to fly from Tbilisi to Moscow. Former Georgian Defense Minister Georgi Karkarashvili’s name appears on the passenger manifest.
While flying between Baku and Perm on September 15, a Tu-134 with 50 passengers is captured by 3 gunmen, who demand that the aircraft be diverted to Norway. The pirates surrender to police when the aircraft lands at Oslo.
En route from Krasnoyarsk to Tura on September 26, a Yak-40 crashes outside Vanavara, inside the autonomous region of Evenki in central Siberia (26 dead).
When an Il-62M transporting Special Envoy Vitaly Churkin lands at Belgrade’s Surcin Airport on October 6, it is the first aircraft in two years to be permitted to complete an international flight to the capital of the shrunken Yugoslavia.
On October 17, a joint Russian-American report is issued that states that safety standards on Russian airlines will soon fail to meet international standards unless the Moscow government takes swift action to retrain personnel and improve its supervision. As the report demonstrates that carriers authorized to fly internationally meet higher standards, the U. S. travel ban on Aeroflot is lifted.
Eight days later, on October 25, a lone hijacker armed with a grenade takes 16 people hostage aboard an airliner in the southern republic of Dagestan; after the captives escape next day, commandos storm the plane and the pirate commits suicide. Meanwhile, on October 28, a would-be hijacker is taken in hand at Moscow airport. Two air disasters occur on the same day, October 30. En route from Sakhalin to Yermolino in the Kaluga region, an An-12 with 21 passengers crashes while preparing to land at Ust-Ilimsk in central Siberia for refueling; there are no survivors. Attempting to make an emergency landing near Batagay in northern Siberia the same morning, an An-2, with 14 aboard, crashes (5 dead).
An Il-96-300 makes the aircraft type’s first flight to Rio de Janeiro on November 3. It will replace the Il-62M on the route. In its first U. S. visit, the Il-96-300 prototype arrives at Washington, D. C.’s Andrews AFB on November 6 with a Russian trade delegation. The Il-96-300 has suffered reliability difficulties with its PS-90A engines during the past two years; persistence of the Aeroflot team and those from Ilyushin and Perm Motors will eliminate shortcomings that have resulted in the new aircraft’s daily utilization averaging only four hours per day.
During the year, the international division begins to fly trial domestic routes and plans to open an international hub at Shannon in Ireland in the new year. Negotiations with the Irish government to that end are underway.
A company Tu-134Ais hijacked to Tallinn, Estonia, on November 24; the air pirate, Vladimir Bashko, releases his 61 hostages and surrenders to police.
Passenger boardings remain level at 3.1 million and freight traffic declines by 12.3% to 1.45 billion FTKs. Anet $160-million profit is reported.
A total of 13,362 workers is employed in 1995, a 5.3% increase, and the fleet now includes 4 leased A310-308s and 2 B-767-3Y0ERs plus 112 Russian types, including Il-62Ms, Il-76s, Il-86s, Il-96s, Tu-134As, Tu-154B/Ms, an a Tu-204 chartered from Orel Avia. Two A310-324s and a DC-10-30F will be leased during the year.
The international division undertakes its initial regularly scheduled domestic services during the first quarter. In mid-March, Managing Director Tikhonov publicly warns his government against allowing foreign companies, specifically Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G. and British Airways, Ltd. (2) , to begin competition on Russian domestic routes, noting that competition with them on international routes is already having a negative impact on the company’s balance sheets. He also criticizes joint ventures made earlier with foreign carriers, including the leasing of Western aircraft and the plan to reengineer the Il-86 with Western engines.
Several new directors are appointed late in the first quarter; among them is Oleg Syromolotov, deputy head of the FSK, successor agency to the KGB. It will remain to be seen if the FSK will have the same covert relationship with the airline that its predecessor had.
Also in March, nonstop B-767-3Y0ER roundtrips are started between Moscow and New York (JFK). In April, service is started from Khabarovsk to Aomori and from Vladivostok to Toyama.
Under a pact signed with the Irish government and Aer Rianta on January 12, work begins in May on a new transit terminal at Shannon, Ireland. The project assumes that several Il-62s will be permanently held in the new terminal to support ARIA’s international flights. At the same time, Shannon becomes a company hub from which passengers brought into Ireland by other CIS carriers are offered onward connections to destinations in the Western Hemisphere.
Also during May, a cargo-only Tu-204C makes its first commercial flight from Moscow to Bangkok. The type will soon complete its tests with Aeroflot and be returned to its manufacturer that will, in turn, lease the aircraft to Vnukovo Airlines.
Meanwhile, service is also launched from St. Petersburg to Pafos.
A cooperative pact is signed between ARIA and Belavia (Belarussian Airlines) at the beginning of June. It is designed to allow the establishment of common rates for air transport services and the use of tickets for transit flights acquired in either Russia or Belarus. Within a month, Aeroflot offices in Russia will act as Belavia agents, selling tickets on flights of the new partner. Also during June, commercial flights commence from Moscow to Nitsa.
A strategic agreement is signed with Vnukovskie Avialinii in mid-June that provides for cooperation and coordination of commercial policy. Aeroflot will be able to employ VA’s aircraft while Vnukovskie will be able to interline passengers on to Aeroflot international services.
Being unable to maintain a pair of A310-324s that it has leased, Sakhalinskiye Avia Trassy transfers them to ARIA toward the end of the month; as part of the transfer, ARIA agrees to employ the aircraft on flights to Yakutsk, a capital of the Sakha republic (formerly Yakutia).
En route from Athens to Moscow on July 5, the pilot of a Tu-154M with 104 passengers is informed by ATC that a bomb threat has been received; the aircraft makes an emergency landing at Salonika, but no explosives are found.
In mid-month, 20 Il-76TDs are sent back to the Ilyushin aviation complex to receive new PS-90 engines that are designed to allow 12-15% fuel-savings. The first modernized aircraft is completed in August.
Airline management’s earlier concern and admonishment is not well received; however, the appointment of former Soviet Air Force Commander-in-Chief Marshal Yevgeny Shaposhnikov as ARIA’s new managing director on October 14 proves more of a surprise than the displacement of the incumbent Tikhonov. The action occurs as the administration of President Yeltsin restructures ARIA’s corporate structure, dissolving the board of governors and replacing it with a new governing body with representatives from seven state agencies. Nikolai Glushkov, a business associate of tycoon Boris Berezovsky, is named deputy managing director and chief financial officer.
Through his role as presidential representative at Rosvooruzhenie, Russia’s state-owned arms dealer, the new managing director, who was briefly military commander of the CIS before transferring into Yeltsin’s security council as secretary in 1993, is the only one of the original board members to survive the purge.
One week after taking office, Marshal Shaposhnikov promises a shake-up that should bring benefits to passengers using Sheremetyevo-2 Airport. Two new routes are announced: Moscow-St. Petersburg and Moscow-Novosibirsk, two of the most competitive within Russia. Both routes will fly out of Sheremetyevo, saving transit passengers the exhausting and inadequately served trek to Vnukovo Airport on the other side of Moscow.
Also during October, service is inaugurated from Moscow to Shannon via Bratislava and from Ulan Ude to Ulan Bator. Simultaneously, allcargo DC-10-30F flights are launched from Moscow to Seoul and from Seoul to Moscow via Frankfurt.
Just after landing at Rostov-on-Don on October 31 after an all-cargo service from Ulyanovsk, an Il-76TD with nine crew and two passengers, overruns the runway by 360 m.; there are no injuries reported.
Employing Il-62Ms, ARIA launches twice-weekly roundtrips on November 1 between Moscow and Lima, Peru, via Miami.
A Tu-154 with 97 aboard disappears on December 7 during a flight from Sakhalin Island and Khabarovsk on the mainland. Its wreckage is discovered by a helicopter pilot in the mountains near the Pacific coast on December 18; there are no survivors. Meanwhile, on December 9, a Tu-154 encounters engine problems while coming into Moscow’s Sheremetyevo-2 Airport after a flight from Paris; the aircraft is diverted to Sheremetyevo-1 and lands without incident.
Also in December, a strategic alliance is entered into with Mexicana Airlines, S. A. that will allow Aeroflot passengers to transfer onto Mexicana flights to Mexico, Colombia, and countries in Central America.
In addition, Il-62M roundtrip service is started from Moscow to Novosibirsk, while flights are also begun from Moscow to St. Petersburg and from Khabarovsk to Alma Ata.
Customer bookings jump 16.2% to 3.47 million while cargo is up by 6.7% to 503 million FTKs. ARIA is now responsible for 60% of international air service provided by all of Russia’s air companies.
Airline employment is decreased by 5.1% in 1996 to 15,000 and the fleet now includes 9 big Western jetliners: 4 A310-308s, 2 A310-324s, 2 B-767-3Y0ERs, and 1 DC-10-30F. Two Antonov An-124-100 Ruslan freighters are leased from the Moscow-based cargo airline Ayaks Cargo Airlines, which does not have a license to operate them. Aeroflot will provide the crews. The company now operates 40 weekly departures to destinations in the CIS and Baltic states, as well as its other world markets.
Following an early January visit by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, it is announced in Washington, D. C. that the Import-Export Bank will lend Russia $1-billion dollars. This will finance 80 Pratt & Whitney engines and Rockwell Collins avionics suites needed for completion of the Ilyushin IL-96M, 10 of which would be leased by the builder to ARIA. In addition to repayment terms, the loan agreement also allows banks to repossess the jetliners if Aeroflot defaults on any of its outstanding U. S. loans.
A bomb explodes in front of the Aeroflot office at Istanbul on April 29-30. The attack is in retaliation for the previous week’s death of Chechen independence leader Dzhokhar Dudayev in a Russian air raid. Agreement is reached with a European consortium on May 11 for the lease of 4 A310-308s; the 183-seat chartered transports arrive at Moscow in June.
Meanwhile, in May, Managing Director Marshal Shaposhnikov, at the urging of his deputy, Glushkov, sends orders to the heads of the airline’s 153 foreign offices ordering them to turn over 80% of their foreign currency income to Andava, S. A. The two-year-old Lausanne, Switzerland-based financial concern will now serve as the airline’s foreign treasury center, performing the functions earlier handled by Aeroflot’s Center for International Payments, and receiving a 3.125% commission on all funds handled for the carrier. As Paul Klebnikov will report in his March 22, 1999, Forbes article, “The Day They Raided Aeroflot,” Berezovsky and Glushkov between them own 71% of Andava, with Andre & Cie holding a 21% stake. The Andava relationship is published nowhere in the airline’s reports or releases for stockholders.
About this time, Aeroflot signs a contract with another Berezovsky, Glushkov, and Andre & Cie concern, Forus Services, S. A., also headquartered in Lausanne. Forus will act as a financial consultant and serve as an intermediary with Western banks. It also assists in the establishment of the Obedinenny Bank—this Moscow financial institution becomes Aeroflot’s domestic repository.
Andava now also signs a contract with a Moscow-based subsidiary, Finansovaya Obedinennaya Kompaniya (United Finance Corporation) to pay some of the carrier’s foreign invoices via Grangeland Holdings, Ltd., another financial concern held by unknown shareholders with no physical address or telephone number, just a Dublin, Ireland, post office box. Under this arrangement, Grangeland’s payments are considered loans (30% annual $ interest) to United Finance, which passes this cost back to Aeroflot (65% annual R interest). At the end of these transactions, Aeroflot’s annual interest rate is 90% in dollar terms.
The Andava-Grangeland business practice is one of many similar commercial arrangements established across the nation that cause the Russian Central Bank to attempt enforcement of stringent rules on the repatriation of foreign exchange revenues. On July 5, the bankers demur when Aeroflot applies for a license that would exempt it from these rules it is already secretly violating.
Yuri Tishechkin, a passenger who is also a thief with $6,000 in his pockets, delays a Moscow-bound B-767-3YOER on the ground at New York (JFK) for four hours on July 16. When he finally surrenders, no bomb is found and he is taken off the plane to be charged with grand larceny. Next day, an anonymous caller reports that another Russian airliner has been targeted. Police, FBI agents, and airport security search the aircraft, but find no explosives.
Also in July, an arrangement is made with Transaero Airlines, which will provide for code-sharing, flight-schedule coordination, and joint fleet planning. At the same time, new engine maintenance and repair facilities are opened at Sheremetyevo-1 Airport at Moscow.
During the summer, Birmingham, England-based air cargo broker Aviation Consultants, Ltd. arranges for the Ruslan freighters to operate eight outsize flights on its behalf.
While on final approach to Turin on an October 8 flight from Moscow, Flight 9981, an An-124-100 with 23 crew and leased by Ajax for the purpose of obtaining a shipment of Ferrari automobiles to fly on to Sharjah and Brunei, is unable to complete its landing. The giant aircraft attempts to go around in light rain, but instead strikes trees and houses in the village of San Francesco al Camp, N of the runway, before crashing. Two crewmen are killed, along with two people on the ground.
Beginning in late October, Il-62s on the thrice-weekly Moscow to Washington service are replaced by larger A310-324s. During November, firm orders are placed for 20 Il-96Ms.
In November, only one weekly service is flown, but with the beginning of the winter schedule in December, the number is boosted back up to two.
Following the publication of Paul Klebnikov’s article “Godfather of the Kremlin?” in the December 30 issue of Forbes, the reporter and the magazine are both sued for libel in London by the story’s subject, Mr. Berezovsky.
Enplanements surge 32.1% to 4,128,660 and 487.14 million FTKs are operated, a 6.7% increase. Although a $58.8-million operating loss is suffered, there is a net profit of $55.5 million. It will later be reported that the United Finance Corporation has paid $139 million of the airline’s bills this year and that Aeroflot has actually lost $82 million.
The workforce is cut another 0.4% in 1997 to 14,315. Early in the year, a code-sharing agreement is signed with Aerolineas Argentinas, S. A. covering service over a route from Buenos Aires-Moscow-Buenos Aires. On January 15, a marketing alliance is signed with Continental Airlines, under which the state-owned Russian carrier guarantees the sale of half of the seats on a code-sharing service for five years.
On February 19, the carrier signs a $9-million contract with Norway’s largest fish exporter, Hallvard Leroy, A. S., to transport $2.5-million worth of salmon over the next year from the Russian Far East to Japan. Delivery time using ARIA planes will be cut from 3-5 days to 18 hrs.
In March, the company becomes a public joint stock (public limited) company; although the government retains 51% majority shareholding, 49% is sold to employees. Russian President Boris Yeltsin appoints his son-in-law, Valery Okulov, 44, to be acting managing director of the national carrier. A former Aeroflot navigator and the husband of Yeltsin’s eldest daughter, Yelena, Okulov was previously first deputy to the outgoing Aeroflot chief and was in charge of the carrier’s operations management and organization department. It will later be suggested that the idea for Okulov’s appointment has come from the family friend, financier Berezovsky. At the same time, Gennady Zaitsev, director of the Russian Federal Aviation Service, is re-elected chairman of a nine-member board of directors.
A new Russian Air Code is enacted on April 1; it contains definitions of “state aviation” and “civil aviation,” without dividing either aircraft or operators under the latter term according to the types of service offered. Consequently, business carriers, scheduled carriers, and charter airlines will all receive the same treatment under the law.
The agreement with LOT Polish Airlines, S. A. is upgraded in April and provides for code-sharing over a route from St. Petersburg to Warsaw. That same month, concerned with the growing activity within Russia of foreign airlines, ARIA announces a program to strengthen its position in the nation’s various regions. It will begin with flights into Nizhni Novgorod, where Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G. has recently begun service.
On May 1, a $440-million order is placed with Boeing for 10 B-737-4M0s to be delivered beginning in April 1998. The thirtieth anniversary of the carrier’s Flight Attendant Service is now celebrated. Since the changeover from Soviet control, the quality of the airline’s 25,000 flight attendants has improved dramatically. The profession is no longer predominantly female and even married couples are trained into the service.
Also during May, the Russian Central Bank, which has been stalling, issues a license exempting the airline from the financial institution’s stringent rules on foreign exchange revenue repatriation.
Acting Managing Director Okulov is elected permanent managing director on May 30.
Thrice-weekly Tu-154M return service is inaugurated on June 1 from Moscow to the ancient city of Chimkent, in Kazakhstan.
It is reported in the St. Petersburg Times on June 16 that the value of company stock has risen from $30 on December 31 to $112 on June 1; the carrier’s market value has jumped from $63 million to $350 million. Analysts are unable to determine whether investors are coming to appreciate an undervalued company or if a mystery investor is attempting to take over the national flag carrier. In an interview with the paper, CEO Okulov indicates that he is attempting to stop employees from selling off their 49% stake in the carrier, although 14% to 15% has already been turned over to outside speculators.
Thrice-weekly Tu-134A return service is launched on June 17 from Sheremetyevo-1 Airport at Moscow to Dnepropetrovsk; the city is the third in the Ukraine to be visited after Kiev and Simferopol. A310-324 charters from Moscow to Toronto commence on June 20.
Beginning on June 22 and continuing through July 6, passengers are offered Aeroflot roundtrip tickets to any destination in the world, excluding Russia and the CIS, for $222. During the promotion period, 3,623 of the inexpensive tickets are sold, with the most popular destinations being Bangkok, Hanoi, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, and Rio de Janeiro.
On June 28, it is announced that ARIA is preparing to sell a 10% stake on the American market to raise funds for fleet renewal. Simultaneously, it also lobbies the Moscow government to keep protectionist air rights restrictions in place, which is directly opposed to the “open skies” approach of the U. S. government.
At the beginning of July, Aeroflot flies to 13 destinations in Russia, former Soviet republics grouped in the CIS and the Baltic states.
A second weekly Tu-154M return service is introduced on July 1 between Moscow and Tehran. The same day, DC-10-30F all-cargo flights are started from Luxembourg to Tokyo, via Moscow; the return service from Tokyo stops at Moscow before proceeding on to Frankfurt and then repositioning to Luxembourg.
Also on July 1, the carrier, which has long held a worldwide reputation for its poor food and service, initiates its first Western multimedia advertising campaign; adopting the humorous approach, it chooses for itself the image of a flying elephant.
The solid and steady gray beast will be employed in an effort to convince the flying public that the former uncaring, monopolistic carrier has become a friendly, safe, speedy, reliable, and modern airline. The elephant campaign, which includes television commercials filmed in London and shown around Europe and Russia, uses the slogan “Lyogok na Podyom” (“Fast to Take Off’) and also includes the unveiling of Aeroflot’s first frequent flyer program and a $222 ticket-to-anywhere promotion.
On July 6, the $222 ticket promotion is extended to Germany until October 25, while a new $300 roundtrip fare is offered from Novosibirsk to German cities.
Russian customs officials at Sheremetyevo-1 seize two kilograms of cocaine from a Croatian citizen who arrived on a July 11 service from Frankfurt; the man is detained for trial.
An earlier agreement to purchase 50 Tu-214s, 15 Tu-330s, and 20 Tu-334s from the KAPO Gorbunova aviation enterprise (Kazan, Tartarstan, Russia) is spurned on July 12 when ARIA refuses to sign the formal contract. The airline considers the Tu-214s offered to it to be of low quality and too expensive. It also lets it be known that it has lost interest in the Tu-330/-334s, as yet not tested. The Tatar government had taken a $534-million loan from the Menatep Bank in Moscow to finance production of 30 Tu-214s and their engines for the carrier, which had agreed to take them and pay for them in installments through 2005. All is not lost as KAPO and ARIA set up a working group to come up with a new arrangement.
On July 19, Russia and the airline celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the nonstop flight of Comrade Gromov’s ANT-25 from Moscow to San Jacinto, California.
On the same day, and continuing through September 18, Thursday-only roundtrips are launched from Moscow to Dubai, via Istanbul. The service is primarily for the benefit of Russian citizens flying to the Turkish capital, as well as Arab tourists coming to Russia from Dubai.
Three class Il-62M roundtrips from Sheremetyevo-1 are inaugurated on July 29 to Vladivostok, the Far Eastern port city.
Also during July, the carrier launches scheduled Tu-154 flights from Moscow to Arkhangelsk and Murmansk in the Russian Arctic. It is later noted that, through the first six months of the year, $82 million of Aeroflot’s foreign invoices have been paid via the United Finance Corporation and Grangeland Holdings, Ltd.
After nine years of repair, Runway #1 at Sheremetyevo-1 Airport at Moscow is reopened toward the end of the month. Costing R 250 million, the new runway replaces one that had been in service for 25 years. It is the only runway in Russia capable of accommodating any type of aircraft around the clock, regardless of weather.
During the summer, dual-designator flights are begun with MALEV Hungarian Airlines, Rt. over routes from Moscow to Budapest.
Having for some time suffered a poor return on the twice-weekly route from Moscow to Phnom Penh, the company seizes the chance to end it on August 1 when fighting breaks out in Cambodia between forces loyal to different political parties.
Flights from Petropavlovsk to Moscow commence on August 2. Twice-weekly Tu-154 roundtrips commence on August 4 between Moscow and Kaliningrad. They are also started between Moscow and Murmansk, with both Tu-134As and Tu-154Ms.
On August 15, the airline begins flying four times a week between Moscow and Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, operating Tupolev Tu-134 jets belonging to private Estonian carrier Estonian Air, A. S. Regular passenger service from Moscow to Petropalovsk-Kamchatskiy in the Russian Far East and from Moscow to Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea, begins in late August.
The new code-sharing pact with Continental Airlines takes effect on August 30 when the American carrier launches daily DC-10-30ER flights from Newark to Sheremetyevo-1 Airport at Moscow. The 4,668-mile nonstop trip requires 10 hrs. 30 min. flying time. Employing tickets purchased in Russia, passengers may connect to 157 U. S. cities served by Continental.
Company aircraft are depicted in the action-comedy movie Jackie Chan's First Strike. The Golden Harvest/New Line Cinema film, in which the carrier has its name in the credits, is the first significant Western entertainment film for which the “new” Aeroflot provides assistance.
Daily roundtrip Tu-154M flights commence on September 1 between Moscow and Rostov-on-Don.
Despite a 1993 air transport agreement between Russia and the U. S., Russian civil aviation officials disallow joint flights between United Airlines and Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G. to Moscow, and disapprove
United’s application to use a recently established air route over the territory of the Russian Far East. In retaliation, the American major petitions the U. S. DOT on September 9 to ban Aeroflot landings in Washington, D. C., Chicago, and San Francisco. Aeroflot’s service to Los Angeles is curtailed.
Just after takeoff from New Delhi for the continuation of a September 10 service from Singapore to Moscow, the crew of an A310-324 reports technical problems; the Airbus makes an emergency landing at Indira Gandhi International Airport and no injuries are reported.
The company celebrates 35 years of operations in Ghana with a brief ceremony at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra on September 12 following the arrival of the Il-18 with the same crew (with the exception of the captain) that had made the original flight on September 11, 1962. Russian and Ghana officials offer remarks and each member of the crew is presented with a carved wooden map of the country.
The value of company stock, which has hovered between $140 and $150 per share this summer, reach $146 a share and begin to gather value, shooting upward from this day.
Also on September 12, a five-year agreement is signed with GE Capital Aviation Services for the lease of a pair of A310-324s previously employed by Dutch and Spanish charter operators.
The company and Sakhalinskiye Avia Trassy jointly agree on September 13 that ARIA will stop its use of the two A310s leased earlier and will return them to the Sakha republic.
On September 15, the Aeroflot’s managing director joins with Director Mark Veron from Air France in signing a strategic alliance agreement at Moscow. The two airlines will coordinate services through their Moscow and Paris hubs and begin code-sharing. Aeroflot views the pact as a way to improve its chances in the growing competition being waged with Deutsche Lufthansa, A. G.
Under terms of the new pact with Air France, ARIA, on September 17, begins weekly roundtrip, Il-76TD, all-cargo services from Moscow to Paris.
When the acquisition of 17 new Il-96Ms is delayed, the company, on September 19, enters into an agreement with ILFC for the charter of a pair of B-777-2Q8s. To operate them, 16 Russian flight crews are dispatched to Seattle for preparation.
The airline also enters into discussions with Tupolev and the Kazan Aircraft Production factory concerning the possible purchase of three dozen Tu-214s.
In an effort to compete with ARIA, Vnukovo Airlines, on September 25, increases the number of its daily departures from Moscow to fifteen.
Late in the month, the carrier signs an agreement with Inkombank aimed at improving the management of the airline’s financial resources. The pact will also provide Aeroflot access to the company’s resources as the commercial bank invests in the carrier’s projects.
On October 1, ARIA’s economics director, Igor Desyatnichenko, holds a press conference to review flight equipment developments. For the first time, the media learns of the B-777 order, which is confirmed along with the earlier requests for Il-96Ms, A310s, and B-737s. The company, he confirms, continues to fly 12-13 of its Il-62Ms on long-haul services within the CIS.
Since September, the value of company stock has shot up 26% to close at $184 per share on October 6. A few more dollars will be earned before the following year’s financial crisis and recession assault the entire Russian economy.
Also in October, the new executive passenger charter subsidiary Aeroflot Plus begins revenue service with a pair of refurbished Tu-134As. A total of 490 weekly flights are offered when the winter schedule is published this month.
When the winter schedule begins on October 26, frequencies are increased on flights to Prague, Rome, Geneva, Milan, Kiev, Berlin, Baku, San Francisco, Havana, and Tokyo. The carrier also launches new frequencies to Arkhangelsk, Rostov-on-Don, Murmansk, Bryansk, Dnepropetrovsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Vladivostok, Kaliningrad, and Chimkent.
Nonstop weekly Il-96 roundtrips are simultaneously resumed from Moscow to Los Angeles; the flight to California requires 12 hrs. 55 min. and is timed to connect with Aeroflot flights from Yerevan and Kiev.
Two chartered A310-324s enter service late in the month. One is employed to inaugurate weekly service on October 30 from Moscow to Johannesburg via Tunis.
Starting on December 22, Aeroflot offers free flights to Moscow from ten Russian cities for passengers connecting with international Aeroflot flights out of the capital. The cities involved are St. Petersburg, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Kaliningrad, Rostov-on-Don, Briansk, Petropavlovsk, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, and Novosibirsk.
Customer bookings climb 2.4% to 3,904,165 and cargo traffic inches up 1.1% to 545.3 million FTKs. Operating revenues jump 9.8% to $1.4 billion while expenses rise 1.4% to $1.35 billion. This year there is an operating profit ($47 million) and a $34.4-million net gain (later adjusted downward to $12 million). It will be reported in the spring of 1999 that there has been, in fact, a loss of $93 million.
At the beginning of 1998, ARIA is the 23rd largest airline in the world in terms of fleet size. Its deputy managing director, Nikolai Glushkov, now voluntarily resigns. Meanwhile, the workforce stands at approximately 14,000, down 500 staff positions, predominantly older employees pensioned off under a special allocation from the Aeroflot-Garant retirement fund.
During the last week of January, arrangements are completed with ILFC for the seven-year charter of two new B-777-2Q8 IGWs. Upon their arrival, the world’s largest twin-jets will replace B-767-3YOERs and A310-300s on intercontinental flights. Company officials anticipate that the aircraft will give it a competitive edge against both Delta Air Lines and British Airways, Ltd. (2), which employ B-767s on their Moscow services. The new aircraft will receive contract maintenance support from Lufthansa Technik, A. G.
Delayed due to lack of equipment, ARIA launches its new service from Moscow to Nizhni Novgorod on April 9, the seventy-fifth anniversary of Russian civil aviation.
On March 10, a suspected short circuit causes a fire aboard an Il-62 that is being prepared for its departure from Vladivostok to Seattle. The passengers, including Governor Yevgeny Nazdratenko, will make their flight when the airline is repaired next day.
During the first quarter, Russian Federal Aviation Service Director General/Aeroflot Chairman Zaitsev places the finishing touches upon an ambitions $750-million plan to modernize the nation’s commercial aviation. The blueprint, announced just prior to March 23 when President Yeltsin dismisses his entire cabinet, contains a number of progressive points.
The nation’s 315 airlines will be integrated into 5-8 national carriers, the number of regional airlines will be cut to 24, and some 65 small local airlines will be allowed to continue. The regional and local service companies will be required to perform “social” flights to unprofitable points.
Zaitsev’s document also indicates that the monopolistic relationships between airlines and airports will end and that the number of federally supported aerodromes will be reduced; all will become joint stock (limited) carriers within a year. Finally, the civil fleet will be upgraded; leases will be employed by those unable to purchase Western-built transports.
The new summer schedule is unveiled on March 24 and the number of weekly services is increased to 672, 500 of which begin or end in Moscow. Frequencies are increased to Prague, Rome, Milan, Lisbon, and Brussels and a new route is inaugurated to Omsk.
The Il-96T, a cargo version of the Il-96-300 passenger plane, is certified on March 31. ARIA will receive three of the type.
At the end of April, service is started to the Russian cities of Anapa, Sochi, and Krasnodar.
The first 2 of 6 new, chartered B-737-4M0s arrives in May. It is delivered in a new color scheme, the eleventh applied to a fleet unit in the past six years. The new livery, which will be painted on the new
B-737/777s as they are delivered, is based on the winning idea chosen from submissions by ten Russian artists; the winning idea comes from the wife of one of the airline’s directors.
A company official in Angola is released from prison on bail on May 29 after being held for 26 days on charges of illegal currency manipulations. The executive’s counsel indicates that the Aeroflot man had been “framed” by Russian government officials for pursuing a claim against a security company after the airline’s local office was raided at the beginning of the month.
Also during the spring, Aeroflot approaches Andre & Cie, part owners of Andava, S. A., seeking an increase in a syndicated $17-million loan received earlier in order that the airline might resolve a cash flow problem.
The first B-777-2Q8 IGW is delivered on June 23 and flies to Moscow, where it arrives next day with a cargo of medical supplies for local hospitals. The new ship enters daily service on the carrier’s Moscow-New York route at the beginning of July. The only one of its type in service in Russia, the wide-body also flies from Moscow to London twice weekly.
Following the failure of the airline to make progress payments, Perm Motors stops work on its engine repair contract with ARIA at the beginning of July. It is reported on July 20 that half of the debt has been paid and that the two concerns are working together to draft a new agreement.
Weekly roundtrip passenger service is inaugurated between Moscow and Amman in early August. At this point, the company has 7 Il-96-300s in service.
A joint commission led by U. S. Vice President Albert Gore and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin on August 17 announces that the U. S. Export-Import Bank will provide two-thirds of the $1.5 funding that Aeroflot requires for the purchase of 20 Il-96s from the Voronezh Aviation Plant. The Russian government will guarantee the arrangement.
Russian air transport, like other elements of the economy, encounters rocky times after the government devalues the ruble in mid-August. Airlines begin to fix their own rates, pegging tariffs to both rubles and U. S. dollars. On August 26, ARIA fixes its domestic rates at R 6.26/$ and its international ticket prices at R 8.253/$, even though the official Central Bank exchange rate is R 7.86/$. ARIA begins to trim its hard currency spending by revising its in-flight meals, replacing imported foods with Russian-made or prepared foods.
Daily Tu-154 service is inaugurated on September 6 from Samara, in the Volga region, to Berlin via Moscow’s Sheremetyevo-2 Airport.
Also on September 6, Aeroflot officially informs Transaero Airlines of the termination of their agreement for joint commercial activities, effective October 6, and on mutual financial claims on December 6.
Simultaneously, a Cathay Pacific Airways (Pty.), Ltd. A340-342 with 260 passengers and en route from Zurich to Hong Kong, narrowly avoids a midair collision with the inaugural Tu-154 Berlin passenger liner over Samara. Turbulence eddies in the wake of the Tupolev jolt the Airbus, causing its onboard warning system to sound. ATC on the ground does not inform the Hong Kong crew that the Tu-154 is close; however, its commander later radios an apology. Cathay officials report the incident in writing to both Russian and Hong Kong aviation authorities.
Facing the press on September 10, Managing Director Olukov refuses to confirm or deny the midair incident. He does, however, note that safety conditions for the first eight months of the year in Russian civil aviation, particularly for ARIA, are much better than in the previous three years “in all objective parameters.”
At the same time, Olukov reports that the national carrier has set up a seven-person crisis committee, which has been charged with generating measures to keep the carrier efficient and financially stable amid Russia’s economic crisis. Other responsibilities of the group will include: revision of ARIA’s arrangements with banks, suppliers, and other airlines; planning changed or enhanced services to Scandinavia, Japan, India, and the U. K.; the launching of additional charter services; public relations, especially with passengers; and the establishment of measures to hold the company together as a corporation and to provide social protections for its employees.
Circumstances with the Russian economy having made operations there unprofitable, Alaska Airlines, also on September 10, suspends its weekly winter service to Magadan, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Petropavlovsk, and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.
The country’s economic crisis continues to worsen in September, with the ruble now trading at more than 16 to the dollar, up from August. As a result, ARIA is now forced to sharply increase its economy-class fares on many busy domestic routes, although in dollars many are now cheaper than before the crisis. Examples of the increase from Moscow are: to Bryansk (115 rubles to 260); to Nizhniy Novgorod (230 to 435); and to Yekaterinburg (from 730 to 1,150).
World History
