威格 彼得罗相, 阿尔汉格尔斯克机场
Release Date: 2010-04-30
Vage Petrosyan, General Director of Archangels Aiport (Talagi), was interviewed by Russianavia.net to talk about the current development of the airport which is stratigically located in Archanglesk reagion in the north of Russia.Mr Petrosyan, thank you for receiving us today. When we meet with the representatives of the Russian airports, we always start by asking them to comment on the location of the particular airport and give us a view of the region surrounding the airport as not everyone is familiar with the impressive scale of the Russian geography. Could you explain the importance of Arkhangelsk region for Russia to the readers of www.russianavia.net?
Firstly, one of the advantages of Arkhangelsk, a Russian port on the White Sea, is that it has developed three kinds of transport: railways, sea transport and air transport. It has some strategically important sites and businesses such as the Plesetsk space launch site and Severalmaz (a diamond production and cutting enterprise), rich forest and fish resources. Although Arkhangelsk is over 1,000 km far from Moscow, it has never been a peripheral city due to its extensive contacts with Moscow.
On a personal view, you are quite new in the city. How do you find it after a year of working here?
I came from Sheremetyevo airport where I had been working for nine years in charge of passenger servicing. I was invited to Arkhangelsk airport on behalf of the regional government that was convinced that the airport had a considerable margin for development and wanted someone new to take this challenge. In general, Arkhangelsk is known for its highly qualified aviation professionals. Although I was, at that point, much more used to working in a big airport, I gave it another thought and realized that Arkhangelsk could be a good place to apply my knowledge in order to contribute to its development. I moved to Arkhangelsk in March 2009 and was appointed first deputy General Director. After a year’s time, the Board of Directors appointed me acting General Director.
When I arrived in Arkhangelsk, my first impression was the sight of the name of the airport with only two letters lighted with standard 220 W light bulbs. Apart from that, the airfield personnel had no uniform and the aprons were covered in snow. That made me realize the scope of the work that was expecting me. As I was first deputy General Director at that time, I could not change much, and the management of the airport did not want to introduce dramatic changes. Our strategic partner was Nord Avia, our basic airline, but the airport had not gone further than that: neither commercial activity nor infrastructure was developed enough in the airport, and there were no new airlines.
As for the results that we have today, we have attracted Air Baltic (two weekly flights to Riga), Armavia (to open flights to Yerevan from Arkhangelsk and the neighboring Murmansk, Vologda and Komi Republic) and Avianova. Air Baltic has slightly changed its schedule to make the Arkhangelsk flight a convenient connection. Armavia also plans to connect our Arkhangelsk – Yerevan flight with Dubai and other southern destinations. Avianova, a new Russian low cost airline, plans to fly to Arkhangelsk from Moscow offering 50% cheaper tariffs as compared to any other airline that flies this route. It plans to make it a tight connection, with the return flight taking off in 30 minutes. We have also done a joint market research with Lufthansa Consulting which has revealed some potentially profitable destinations for Lufthansa from Arkhangelsk.
We have also made an agreement with a new partner company to open Duty Free shops that had not been in the regional airports before. Our current plans to launch new international flights made them realize that this is a good moment. Before that, neither our schedule nor our passenger flow were convincing enough.
Obviously, you also need financing to introduce such drastic changes in an airport. What are the available sources of the investments?
To start with, Arkhangelsk airport is developing very dynamically and, most importantly, one of the crucial points of its policy is to maintain its independence and not resort to lending or leasing. It is risky to depend on the banks due to the unpredictable economic situation in the world. In total, the airport’s reconstruction project envisages a budget of 500 mln rubles. In the view of the expenditures that we had to run in the frame of the previous projects, I have chosen a different path in the frame of this particular project. It was planned to construct a new hi-tech terminal on the basis of the older one and also reconstruct the older facilities. In order to start this work, it is necessary to settle a lot and carry out expert appraisal of the project, so it was decided to start with partial redesigning of the old terminal and installation of a telescopic air bridge - the first ever among the airports of the North of Russia - by the end of 2010.
Passenger servicing was also one of the crucial issues. Before, in some cases the passengers were asked to serve themselves to take the luggage out of the aircraft. It was difficult to change it, especially in the minor airport of the region. Things changed after the Ministry of Transport issued a decree that established some new procedures, particularly making pre-flight inspection after (and not before) the check-in. As a result, we have organized the check-in so that the passengers can check-in in advance and use any desk for any flight. We have also organized a meeting with the heads of the regional airports and made an official petition for them to comply with the new servicing procedures. As of now, it has been settled, and the passengers are expressing us their gratitude.
We’re trying to pursue a cost-cutting policy: we have managed to save a lot of assets choosing Russian equipment suppliers although initially we were planning to buy foreign equipment. Our policy in this area is to purchase Russian equipment unless it is only offered by foreign suppliers. I would like to stress that our cost-cutting policy does not concern the human resources. I even had to turn down some decisions on redundancies in the airport’s catering service which was determined unprofitable. I’m convinced that nothing is unprofitable if you know how to work efficiently. I’m ready to treat this issue as a social project as both the passengers and the airport employees need to eat. We have introduced lunch cards for the employees with a different menu every day. As a result, we keep people happy.
As for broader plans, we’re part of the Federal Target Program for development of the transport infrastructure of Russia. It envisages allocation of 3.5 bln RUR for the airport. These assets will be distributed by the Ministry of Transport through the Association of Civil Airports. Our task is limited to control and supervision.
These assets will be fundamentally helpful to develop the infrastructure of our airport. Some of the problems are that, firstly, we could not start before because the economic crisis and some emergencies in Russia had shifted the plans for 2010. Secondly, the runway, the fencing and other elements of the airport infrastructure belong to the military airport (because Arkhangelsk is a double base airport) that does not invest in the infrastructure and is not willing to transfer this responsibility.
Maintenance of the runway costs millions of rubles every year. As I have said, the infrastructure of the airport used to be in a very poor condition a year ago. My attempts to change and renovate it made me an unpopular figure, especially when I tried to pinpoint the current drawbacks of the infrastructure. I did not encounter understanding on behalf of the airport’s management team. The situation is controversial: while the inspection authorities are unhappy with the bad condition of the airport’s infrastructure, the military bodies, officially responsible for the infrastructure of the airport, are against ‘improper’ use of the airport’s budget. Nevertheless, I have managed to implement some improvements such as the construction of two new parking lots for aircraft. One of the other areas that I addressed was airport’s security: I have recruited a 38-strong airport security service that patrols the airport, and I also arranged a contract with the police.
Arkhangelsk region has a space center, a military airport, oil and gas development on the Arctic Shelf, and, on top of that, the Arkhangelsk airport has a definite cargo potential. What are the plans to develop it?
The volume of cargo transport has fallen after the economic crisis, and now we’re developing it again. I might sound unrealistic, but our utterly realistic team has come to a conclusion that Arkhangelsk airport can become a small cargo and passenger hub. Geographically wise, we’re not perfectly located, but still we can make good use of some destinations. Our main big and very strong competitor for cargo transport is the Saint-Petersburg airport. As you rightly say, the Plesetsk space launch centre is a strategically important object that also contributes to the bigger picture. We’re shortly expecting a shuttle to arrive from Japan to transport it to Plesetsk.
The main challenges in this aspect are the condition of the runway and the limited hours of airport’s operation. As for the runway, we might be prohibited to accept some types of aircraft unless we maintain it every year. Good news is that A 319, A 320, Bombardier CRG, An-148 and Tu-204 (analog of Boeing 757) were added to our license as of January 2010.
The issue of the limited hours of operation is almost through. Officially, the airport is closed before 6:00 AM and after 22:00 PM. The problem is that the airlines have to pay the airport for every hour of delay beyond the working hours. This time limit makes Arkhangelsk an inconvenient airport for some airlines that may want to fly out early in the morning before the first flight that departs around 07:00 AM. I’m planning to make an agreement with Nord Avia and other airlines for them to pay us the time excess in partnership with other airlines in advance (in the beginning of the year, for instance) so that we could use this budget to expand our working schedule to 24/7 which would make us more interesting for our basic airline and other airlines.
Does this upgrade look feasible?
We’re planning to meet with the Government of Russia to discuss this issue. As soon as the runway is in a proper condition and the terminals are reconstructed, we’ll be in a better position to implement our strategy of development under the program for developing the transport system of Arkhangelsk region.
What would be your final message to the airlines that could consider Arkhangelsk as their potential destination?
Our priority is to make Arkhangelsk airport one of the biggest and the best airport
| Company: | 阿尔汉格尔斯克机场 |
| Position: | 总监 |
| Country: | 俄罗斯 |