Transaero making a determined bid to rebuild business

Published: 7/15/1999

A report in Moskovskaya Pravda suggests that Transaero, Russia"s third largest airline, is managing to keep its head above water, in spite of severe setbacks suffered as a result of the August 1998 crisis. Attempts to reduce costs to a minimum may be starting to pay off. The reports states that the current fleet, consisting of 8 aircraft (one Il-86, five Boeing-737-200s, and two Boeing-737-700s) made 3864 flights in the first six months of 1999. Flights from Moscow to Tashkent, Tel-Aviv, and Alma-Ata have become more frequent. Owing to demand, there will be 9 flights instead of 7 to Tel-Aviv, from July 17th 1999. From November 1st, Transaero will start flying again to the Eilat resort on the Red Sea. Transaero"s cooperation with Krasair is also reported to be yielding positive results. Under the terms of this agreement, Transaero has restarted flying to Omsk, Sochi, Krasnoyarsk and Vladivostok. Alexander Pleshakov, Chairman of Transaero, may have grounds for some optimism, after all. (Concise 4/13/99). While the situation is clearly not as desperate as it was, Concise reserves judgement as to whether Transaero can successfully restore its balance sheet to a healthy state. Pleshakov"s suggestion, that it might generate a profit in 1999, still seems a long shot.

Article ID: 682