Carriers not ready for guarantees
Release Date: 2009-08-10
Source: KommersantMinistry of Transport of Russia has prepared documents that introduce obligatory financial guarantees for airlines in case of their suspension. The Ministry did not require reserving deposits equal to quarterly revenue but the project nevertheless was harshly criticized by the carriers. The Ministry claims readiness to regard all constructive suggestions from the airlines but also showed firm intention to enforce the system by the start of autumn schedules (late October)
As the Association of Air Transport Operators has announced, “it might lead to shutdown of quite a few airlines and disturb the work of air transport in general”. To start with, the carriers do not agree with the amount of guarantees.
According to Vladimir Saybel, General Director of Vladivostok Air, the guarantee should be the same for all based on the rate of 30 mln rubles for each 100,000 passengers transported over 2008. Saybel illustrates his calculations with the fact that in 2008 Vladivostok Air transported 2/3 of the passengers of the stopped Dalavia (Khabarovsk) worth 197 mln rubles, with the yearly passenger flow of Dalavia of about 1 mln people.
All carriers questioned by Kommersant share Saybel’s views. “There’s no framework for calculating the insurance payments and bank guarantee payment; tariffs for passenger pickup are not clarified”, notes Marina Bukalova, General Director of Sky Express. According to Dmitry Stolyarov, Deputy General Director of Transaero, this practice does not exist anywhere.
"Ministry of Transport is right to say that it should not pickup the passengers of a failed airline. The carriers should develop a scheme that they agree with otherwise the state would insist on its own solution", — agrees Oleg Panteleev, Head of the Analytical Service of Aviaport.ru.
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