Published: 7/24/1998

Shareholders of Sibir (Siberia) airline had their annual meeting on 23 June to discuss the financial results of the past year. Sibir, based in Tolmachevo airport near the city of Novosibirsk in Western Siberia, is one of Russia's biggest airlines. Its fleet consists of seven Il-86s (which fly regularly to Moscow, Vladivostok, Sochi and Simpheropol, and undertake frequent charters to China, United Arab Emirates and Turkey), nine Tu-154Bs, seven Tu-154Ms, one An-32, four An-26 and four An-24s. With a 2000-strong workforce Sibir maintains scheduled services to 19 destinations in Russia, CIS, Germany, Israel and China. Charter flights on a regular basis are made to China, United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Greece, Thailand, Turkey, Korea and Cyprus. In 1997, the company's income was Rbs882.46bn (all figures in 1997 prices), including Rbs642.22bn from aviation activities, whereas expenses amounted to Rbs883.67bn, including Rbs694.56bn from aviation activities. As a result, Sibir registered losses of Rbs1.21bn, including Rbs12.88bn from aviation activities. The Financial Report'97 says that lending airplanes to other operators brought the airline a profit of Rbs51bn, mostly from operations of three Tu-154Ms in Iran. The total of all dues and taxes paid in 1997 was Rbs69bn, some 38% higher than in 1996. The company's creditor debts increased from Rbs40bn to Rbs73bn, whereas the debtor debt rose from Rbs37bn to Rbs67bn. The difference in the last two figures is explained by non-payments for services rendered to military units and state-owned enterprises. At the end of 1997, the Defence Ministry's debts to the airline stood at Rbs19bn. In 1997, Sibir carried 610,000 passengers and 7,500 tonnes ofcargo, showing a commercial load factor of 68%. This year the airline has plans to increase the number of passengers carried up to 645,000, and the traffic to 2119m passengers-kms. Sibir general director, Vladislav Filyev, hopes to see a 6% increase in the volume of ticket sales over the past year. To achieve this, the airline has increased frequencies on the routes linking Novosibirsk with Alma- Ata, Tashkent, Yerevan, Vladivostok, Irkutsk, Krasnidar, St.Petersburg, Sochi and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. At the same time, the intensity of traffic on the scheduled international routes to Frankfurt, Hanover, Tel Aviv and Urumchi remains the same. (AL798.1) (VK)  

Article ID: 214