RUSSIA: Saratov Airlines Stops And Resumes Ticket Sales Less Than A Day After Rosaviatsia Ordered

Saratov Airlines will now continues its operations and resume ticket sales on domestic routes, it announced in a statement.

The airline will also reduce its international charter flights by 50% during June 2018.

Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency (FATA) will consider the application of Saratov Airlines to remove restrictions on its air operator certificate (AOC) by 27 May 2018.

The resumption announcement comes less than one day after Saratov Airlines announced it would suspend operations on 31 May 2018 after receiving a notice from FATA directing the airline to suspend ticket sales.

Russia’s air carrier Saratov Airlines to suspend operation on May 31 following Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) notification.

The carrier was asked to stop selling tickets to prevent violations of passenger rights and the development of the crisis situation.

On May 17, 2018 Saratov Airlines received a letter from Head of Transport Regulation Department of the Federal Air Transport Agency Andrey Kruglov on suspension of air ticket sales starting May 30 of this year.

The airline views the document as restriction of its air operator certificate starting May 31.

In this regard, the management of Saratov Airlines has made a decision on suspension of operations starting May 31, 2018, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

The airline undertakes to return all passengers to Russia by 30 May. Since 18 July, the carrier has also had to sue the company’s employees.

This is about 1.2 thousand professionals who will be on the street, explained in Saratov Airlines.

At the same time, the company closed the booking and issuing of tickets as part of agreements with tour operators.

Saratov Airlines will return passengers money for tickets already purchased in the event of the final closure of the airline, the press service added.

An An-148 aircraft of the Saratov Airlines crashed en route from Moscow to Orsk crashed in February at Moscow Region after takeoff from Domodedovo killing all 71 passengers and crew on board.

Federal air transport regulator Rosaviatsia, which had already put Saratov on a temporary licence, has instructed the airline not to book and issue tickets on its own or on behalf of tour operators for flights after 30 May.

The airline states that, in response, its management has opted to close the company from the end of May and dismiss employees from 18 July.

Saratov says that, as a result of the decision, some 1,200 qualified specialists will be on the street.

Rosaviatsia has also told the carrier to ensure that passengers are repatriated, and that no more are transported abroad if their return is scheduled after the 30 May deadline.

Saratov acknowledges the communication about the suspension of ticket sales, and views it as a prelude to introducing additional limitations on its operations.

Rosaviatsia had limited the validity of its air operator's certificate, initially to 27 April and then to 30 May, as a warning to the airline to address shortcomings in its operations.

The restrictions followed inspections of the carrier conducted in the aftermath of the 11 February crash outside Moscow Domodedovo.

Saratov has also been trying to deal with a loss of capacity from the grounding of its An-148 fleet.

It insists it has taken all measures to correct the issues uncovered by the inspections, and says that Rosaviatsia's decision has condemned to death one of the oldest airlines in Russia.

Saratov claims an uninterrupted history dating back 86 years, the carrier having emerged from an agricultural service.

It had been using Embraer E-Jets alongside its An-148s and had recently introduced an Embraer 190 featuring a different carrier identity, with the name 'Ivolga Airlines' on its fuselage.

Saratov Airlines is a Russian airline headquartered in Saratov and based at Saratov Tsentralny Airport.

On 20 March 2018, the Russian Ministry of Transport ordered the suspension of all Saratov Airline flights following the investigation into the Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crash.

The airline responded with a message on its website stating that it continues to carry out flights on Embraer-190 and Yak-42 aircraft.

Later in the day it emerged that the Ministry of Transport had shortened the period of validty of the airline's operating certificate to 27 April 2018; if by this date violations are not addressed the permit will not be extended.

On 2 April the Russian aviation authority called on the airline to voluntarily cease operating due to its management’s unprecedented and irresponsible attitude towards ensuring the safety of passengers and crew.

One of the reasons for this reaction was the airline’s submission of a list of current planes and crew which included the aircraft that crashed and crew members who died in February.

On 17 May 2018, the Russian aviation authority ordered the airline to stop selling tickets by the end of May. The company was to permanently cease operations on 31 May.

Saratov Airlines was founded in 1931. It was called Saratov United Air Squad and was a part of Aeroflot.Until late 2013 the airline was bcaalled Saravia.

In December 2013, Saratov Airlines became the first Russian operator of Embraer E-Jets, with the arrival of two Embraer 195 aircraft.

On 14 October 2015, the Russian aviation authorities sanctioned Saratov Airlines after a violation of security rules.

The airline was therefore no longer allowed to operate flights to destinations outside of Russia from 26 October 2015. However, by May 2016 the airline had resumed international charter services.

In July 2017, it was announced that the airline had signed a letter of intent to lease six Irkut MC-21-300s at the MAKS Air Show in Moscow scheduled to be delivered from 2022–2025.

On 10 April 2018, it was announced, that Saratov Airlines would re-brand itself as Ivolga Airlines.

The evidence was from the new Embraer aircraft, that plans to commence flights in April. The reasons for this action are various.

Aviation experts say this is due to the air crash that occurred in February, by taking the idea from S7 Airlines and Nordavia, that re-branded after air crashes in 2006 and 2009.

Other experts say that it is because the airline now flies from hubs other than Saratov, such as Moscow-Domodedovo and Krasnoyarsk-Yemelyanovo.

Saratov Airlines operates the following domestic scheduled and international charter passenger flights:

Armenia, Yerevan – Zvartnots International Airport

Georgia, Tbilsi – Tbilisi International Airport

Russia, Blagoveshensk – Ignatyevo Airport

Chita – Kadala Airport

Irkutsk – International Airport Irkutsk

Kirov – Pobedilovo Airport

Krasnodar – Pashkovsky Airport

Krasnoyarsk – Yemelyanovo International Airport base

Mineralnye Vody – Mineralnye Vody Airport

Moscow – Domodedovo International Airport

Nizhnevartovsk – Nizhnevartovsk Airport

Nizhny Novgorod – Strigino Airport

Orsk – Orsk Airport

Saint Petersburg – Pulkovo Airport

Saransk - Saransk Airport, begining 5 June 2018

Saratov – Saratov Tsentralny Airport base

Simferopol - Simferopol International Airport

Surgut – Surgut International Airport seasonal charter

Ufa – Ufa International Airport

Ulan-Ude – Baikal International Airport

Vladivostok – Vladivostok International Airport

Volgograd – Gumrak Airport

Yekaterinburg – Koltsovo Airport

Saratov Airlines Fleet

- Antonov An-148-100 - 1

- Embraer ERJ-195 - 2

- Yakovlev Yak-42 - 5

- Total - 8

Saratov Airlines Orders

- Boeing 737-800 - 1

- Embraer ERJ-195 - 2

- Total - 8

On 11 February 2018, Saratov Airlines flight 703, disappeared from radar and crashed less than ten minutes after takeoff.

The flight, operated using an An-148 and scheduled to depart from Moscow’s Domodedovo airport to the Russian city of Orsk, had 71 people on board; 65 passengers and six crew members.

The crash occurred near the village of Stepanovskoye about 50 miles southeast of Moscow.

No one on board survived the plane crash.


Tourism Observer

RUSSIA: Transaero Grounded After Russia Pulls Plug On Carrier

RUSSIA has pulled the plug on the country’s debt-laden second-largest airline Transaero after state-controlled Aeroflot backed out of a deal to buy the carrier.

And now, Twitter users are watching sadly as its planes are flown to storage spaces — including one very special aircraft, one with an Amur Tiger painted on it.

Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev had warned earlier this month the airline faced bankruptcy after Aeroflot failed to reach agreement with Transaero’s creditors on a restructure of its estimated 250 billion roubles ($5.2 billion) debt pile.

Aeroflot’s board of directors had in September approved the acquisition of a controlling 75-per cent-plus-one-share stake in Transaero for the symbolic sum of 1 rouble in a government-backed deal But the deal foundered on the debt issue and the carrier, hit by three straight years of heavy losses, filed for bankruptcy on October 1 after the civil aviation authority ordered it to stop selling tickets.

After 25 years in the air its 106-strong fleet, mainly composed of long-haul Boeing jets, will be grounded after the federal air transport agency Rosaviatsia ruled its precarious financial state posed a potential threat to passenger safety.

Privately-owned Transaero, which employs some 10,000 staff, started out by leasing Aeroflot aircraft and serving destinations across the former Soviet Union as well as parts of Asia and the Caribbean.

The firm’s woes add to a growing exodus of foreign carriers with the likes of EasyJet and Air Berlin as well as Lufthansa announcing pullouts in recent months, citing weak demand as Russia labours under international sanctions imposed over its actions in Ukraine.

The Russian market has been further hit by the slump in oil prices which has helped provoke the worst drop in purchasing power in 15 years, while the rouble has also seen its value eroded, forcing up costs of fuel and aircraft leasing.

Tuesday evening saw a flicker of hope with a reported bid for a majority stake in Transaero by Vladislav Filev, CEO of S7, Russia’s number-three carrier.

However, the Russian authorities said the distressed airline had been grounded definitively, with Rosaviatsia director Alexander Neradko telling reporters its operating license had been revoked.

Deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov said the airline “will leave the market” but assured that “passengers will not suffer” as other carriers, led by Aeroflot, would take on its 156 routes.

RUSSIA: Russian Market For Changes,Aeroflot To Absorb Transaero Airlines

Cakes and smiles: There’s some appearance of normality in the way that Russia’s air transport business has continued to function and launch important new routes in the past year, albeit miles behind its economic potential. Transaero Airlines’ flurry of new destinations includes: St Petersburg to Shanghai in June, Moscow Vnukovo to Delhi in February, and Moscow Domodedovo to Malta in April, while Aeroflot’s fast-growing low cost unit, Pobeda, which has generated near-30% growth at Moscow Vnukovo this year, launched Sochi/Adler to Kazan, amongst many other new routes, in May.

The recent announcement that Russia’s (majority) state-owned carrier Aeroflot was going to take over the country’s second biggest carrier, Transaero Airlines, will have a significant impact on competition in the Russian market. Based on latest passenger figures from the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) the two carriers accounted for 43% of passenger movements on Russian carriers in the first seven months of 2015. Add in the figures for Rossiya Airlines, ORENAIR, Pobeda, Donavia and Aurora, all of which are either fully-owned or majority-owned by Aeroflot, and the market share climbs to over 57%.

Passenger numbers on Russian airlines are up 1.1% in the first seven months of this year from 51.3 million to 51.8 million. While UTair and Nordwind Airlines have seen significant drops in demand, Aeroflot’s LCC Pobeda has made an impressive start, already ranked ninth among the nation’s airlines. Another fast-growing airline is Azur Air (formerly known as Katekavia – IATA code ZF), which has been around for 20 years but has grown its scheduled services significantly in recent times thanks to the acquisition of several 757s and 767s from UTair.
Pobeda driving growth at Moscow Vnukovo

Government statistics for airport traffic in the first six months of 2015 shows a mixed picture. Of the top 15 airports 11 are showing a drop in traffic compared to the first half of 2014, with Rostov-on-Don seeing the biggest drop of almost 17%. The rapid growth of Aeroflot’s in-house LCC Pobeda at Moscow Vnukovo has helped the airport move past St Petersburg into third place among Russian airports. Sochi/Adler is apparently still benefitting from its raised profile and new infrastructure after hosting last year’s winter Olympics.

The fastest-growing airport according to these statistics is Simferopol, in the disputed region of Crimea. Since February 2014 the airport has been under the control of Russian forces and the airport now handles flights almost exclusively to and from Russia. As a result, passenger numbers at Russian airports (including Simferopol) are up 0.5% in the first half of 2015. If Simferopol is not included, demand across Russia’s other airports is down 1.3%.

An Istanbul-style mega-hub for Moscow? These images are from a magazine produced in Russia in 1992 by the anna.aero publisher, Paul Hogan, who was involved in British Airways’ plans for “Air Russia” – a proposed Helsinki-style hub at Moscow Domodedovo. Hogan believes the potential for a Moscow mega-hub as good as Istanbul persists, and this was the subject of his presentation at the CEE Aviation conference in Budapest 3 September.

China and Turkey capacity still growing
Using OAG schedule data (which still considers Simferopol in Ukraine) a comparison has been made for the leading country markets from Russian airports in September 2015 and compared with September 2013. On this basis, not surprisingly, Ukraine has become the leading international country market with seat capacity doubling in two years. However, if we were to exclude flights to Simferopol (which account for 80% of the seat capacity), Ukraine would become only the tenth biggest market, with capacity down 60%.

Again comparing international services between September 2013 and September 2015 reveals that among western European airlines, Germany’s two leading carriers have made significant reductions in seat capacity, with airberlin down 40% and Lufthansa down 50%. In the last week, Lufthansa has suspended three Russian routes; from Frankfurt to Moscow Vnukovo, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara. airberlin has axed its Berlin Tegel-St Petersburg connection and its Munich-Moscow Domodedovo service.
Moscow’s potential as a mega-hub explored

Last week anna.aero’s publisher, Paul Hogan, gave a presentation at the CEE Aviation Conference in Budapest. With the title “How good would it be for Russia’s air transport if everything was normal?” You can download his 20-slide presentation below.

TAV-operated Tbilisi Airport serving the capital of Georgia (with which Russia was at war in 2008) celebrated the launch of Aeroflot’s new daily service from Moscow Sheremetyevo last October. Despite the current crisis, Ukrainian traffic is also up substantially, although the picture is complicated as many agencies and groups – such as OAG – define Crimea’s growing traffic base as part of Ukraine.