Published: 3/27/1998

In an exclusive interview with ConCISe, Aleksandr Pleshakov, head of Transaero airlines, said that the company has not yet received two new Boeing 737-700s, ordered. Deliveries of the new-generation 737s have been delayed, affecting Transaero's long-term order for over ten aircraft. Initially, the first delivery date was moved from December to March, and then postponed by another one-and-a-half months. Now the airline hopes that the delivery will take place in late-April or early May. Pleshakov said that due to the late-deliveries, the airline had to cancel some flights that were originally planned in the winter-spring timetable, and, most importantly, in April. The original plan to exceed the 2-million passenger mark in 1997 was agandoned because the airline decided not to take second-hand planes any more, and cancelled some plans drawn up at the beginning of the year. These plans called for operational leases for two used 737-400s. Earlier, Transaero representatives claimed they found technical defects in both 737-400s being offered on lease. With no new aircraft received in 1997, Transaero managed to increase the annual traffic by +7%, to the total of 1,582,000 passengers. Important changes took place, in 1997, in the structure of flights. Traffic on scheduled lines rose by +26%, to 1,330 thousand passengers, whereas the charter sector went down by 39%. This was a direct result of the company's strategic policy on reducing the share of charter, Pleshakov commented. He said that the profit in 1997 was almost zero, because of the fleet renewal problems, and a 1% increase in the real property tax (in Russia commercial aeroplanes are subject to that). Despite that, Pleshakov remains optimistic about the future of the company. In the past year both creditors and debtors decreased, Plesahkov stated. "Debtors are in the range between $5m and $6m, which is not that much", he added. Despite the relatively high noise of the five 737-200s currently in the Transaero fleet, the company is going to keep using them for at least five-six years. According to Pleshakov, all 737-200s are in a "very good condition", after all the technical work done on them recently. Admittedly, the company does not plan to fly them often to Western Europe, where noise regulations are stricter. Transaero is taking delivery of its first 767 by the end of March: after some modification work, the airliner will start flying on regular routes by the end of May.(VK)(AL398.2)

Article ID: 120