Crimea instead of Turkey: will there be enough flights?
Tatarstan is preparing for the appearance of its own international air carrier… in 1,5 years
The third attempt of the administration of the republic to create its own airline is gathering speed: by the end of the year, UVT Aero, 'heir' of Ak Bars Aero plans to launch some new routes. As Realnoe Vremya found out, in 1,5 years UVT Aero is going to fly abroad, mainly to CIS countries. To all appearances, the company will have to renew its aircraft fleet: it's a 50-seat version of CRG-200, which is not designed for long-distance flights.
Waiting for the international certificate
In 1,5 years UVT Aero airline is going to perform flights abroad. Today Stanislav Kozlenko, the marketing director of the company, stated it during a round-table talk. 'According to the Russian legislation, the permission for flights abroad can be obtained within 2 years. But there is one exception: now there are some amendments that if a head company has international airlines, its offshoot is to have them as well. And it is Pobeda (Victory) [Editor's Note: an offshoot of Aeroflot],' he said.
The company plans to fly to CIS countries and to 'some European cities'. However, Kozlenko didn't name these directions saying that, 'Let's return to this question at least in a year, whatever can happen during 1,5 years'. In general, CIS countries will be popular, according to the participants of the discussion, although Abkhazia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan cannot be compared with Turkey and Egypt concerning comfort and price, but they can be a close alternative.
UVT is preparing four new flights
As for the plans of the airline, he told about the opening flights Kazan-Novosibirsk and Kazan-Chelyabinsk, and Kazan-Nizhny Novgorod and Nizhnekamsk-Perm within the scope of the subsidization. Now UVT Aero flies to Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Simferopol, Sochi, Volgograd, Voronezh and Yekaterinburg. The government subsidizes many of these flights: Kazan-Voronezh, Kazan-Yekaterinburg, Kazan-Volgograd, Kazan-Perm, Nizhnekamsk-Yekaterinburg and Nizhnekamsk-Perm. But Kozlenko refused to tell the sum of the subsidies and plans for this year only saying that a round-trip flight from Kazan to Yekaterinburg costs 237,000 rubles, and from Kazan to Perm – 240,000 rubles. It means that only for the flights to Yekaterinburg, twice a week, UVT Aero earns over 24,7m rubles a year.
Instead, the government fixes low prices to the Russian cities equal to about 1,600 rubles, but it is difficult to provide the load of planes. 'I suspect UVT will additionally pay its passengers: if you flew, the 1,000 rubles are yours,' Azamat Sabirov, the director general of AVT, even told a joke.
The airline hopes for the help of the federal government to perform flights to Crimea except the subsidization of regional travels. It should be noted that when Ak Bars Aero went bankrupt, and in 2015 the direct flights from Kazan to Simferopol were performed by Orenburg Airlines and Grozny Avia, and tickets cost 7-9,000 rubles. In 2014, Ak Bars Aero's tickets were at 2,200 rubles for the single trip. The tickets were in demand, but only 10% of the seats of the plane were used for that offer. 'People were fighting in the ticket offices, even the police was there. People stood there during all night,' says Feliks Kozlov, the ex-marketing director of Ak Bars Aero who today holds the same position at the airport of Begishevo.
Crimea won't substitute Turkey: lack of flights
UVT believes that taking into account the political situation, next year the flights to Crimea will be in demand too. 'I think this resolution will be applied, it is seasonal, and at the beginning of the second quarter Rosaviatsiya (Russian Aviation) will accept requests for the performance of subsidized flights,' said Kozlenko. He promised to fly 'from Kazan and Nizhnekamsk at least 3-4 times a week'.
'There were several flights per day from Turkey for comparison. And our many lovers of domestic holidays and functionaries say that Turkey must be substituted by Crimea,' according to Rustem Tarzimanov, the sales director of Salavat City Center, pointed out.
'And the planeload was 3,5 times higher, about 200 people,' Sabirov supported him.
'But tour operators have their own planes, for example, Pegas, and they will have to fly somewhere. If there is no Turkey, they will have to fly somewhere, to Crimea and Sochi.
The airport of Sochi is good and it will handle the load. In Simferopol, the situation is more difficult but, in summer perhaps…' Kozlov parried.
The participants of the discussion concurred with each other that the prices for the Russian resorts might grow due to the ban on flights to Turkey and Egypt. In addition, the marketing director of the Begishevo supposes that the amount of regular flights of his airport to Crimea in 2016 will increase twofold.
Meanwhile, UVT Aero is going to expand its geography of flights. At the end of November, the company increased its fleet twofold: now they have six 50-seat version of CRG-200, and the company is going to buy more. 'And medium-size airlines are under discussion,' replied Kozlenko evasively. By the way, we should add that the CRG-200 is not designed for long-distance flights. As Kozlov emphasized, the plane can fly during about 3 hours and reach some close cities of CIS countries.
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UVT Aero, in fact, was the third attempt to create an airline and successor of Ak Bars Aero, which was the only air carrier of Tatarstan after when Tatarstan airline went bankrupt in October 2014. The main airline of Tatarstan had problems from 17 December 2013: its Boeing-737 performed a flight from Moscow to Kazan, crashed at the Kazan airport killing all 50 people aboard when it began the final approach to the runway. Ak Bars Aero, which, by the way, inherited the debts of Tatarstan airline, was declared bankrupt at the beginning of the year. The debts of the company may reach billions. The airline owed mostly to the republic, and also to airports, fuel suppliers, etc.