Partnership agreement with Eastern Siberian carrier paves the way for regional expansion (376 words)

Published: 10/10/2001

Krasnoyarsk Airline (KrasAir) has announced an agreement with Eastern Siberian carrier, ChitaAvia, designed to extend its reach in the region and to attract more passengers. Under the agreement signed by KrasAir's General Director Boris Abramovich, ChitaAvia's General Director Alexander Popov, and Governor of Chita region Ravil Geniatullin, the cooperation is timetabled to start with the airline's winter schedule. Svetlana Volodina, spokesperson for KrasAir, said that, while this was not an acquisition plan, the two airlines intend a very close cooperation and the discussions have included both the regional and federal governments, concerning the agreement of tariffs for government employees - a major element of the airline's business - as well as various subsidised groups such as war veterans. During the last two years of consolidation of the smaller Siberian airlines, ChitaAvia was mentioned as a possible target for Siberia Airlines (Sibir) particularly after the acquisition of Baikal, that had planned a deal with the Siberian carrier to develop a long haul capability and provided routes to Chita that were subsequently closed. Volodina said that other major interregional services directly to Chita have virtually ceased, offering KrasAir an interesting opportunity with the regional carrier, although Moscow-based Aviaexpresscruise does offer one flight a week to Moscow. As a result of the new agreement, the two airlines plan to open up a number of new flights including Krasnoyarsk-Chita-Beijing. The companies also plan to involve the intraregional carrier, Dauria, in the agreement using Dauria's local flights within the Chita region and to Irkutsk to bring passengers from outlying communities to Chita and onward on ChitaAvia and KrasAir flights. ChitaAvia currently operates two flights a week to Moscow, Barnaul (no competitors), once a week to Ekaterinburg (no competitors) and once a week to Krasnoyarsk (KrasAir flies four times per week). ChitaAvia operates a small fleet of four Tu-154s and eight An-2s. However, KrasAir must have been at least a little rattled, in the light of the new partnership, that most of ChitaAvia's flights between 8th October and 14th October were delayed or cancelled. The airline and the airport, Kadala Airport in Chita were, however, not available for comment on the causes of the disrupted schedule.

Article ID: 2812