Vladivostok Avia General Director talks about growth and reopening regional routes

Published: 9/3/1999

In recent interviews with Parlamenskaya Gazeta and the Vladivostok based newspaper Vladivostok, Vladimir Saibel, Director General of a Vladivostok Avia (VA), has reflected on a decade at the helm of the airline and set out his plans for the future. Having inherited many of the problems of Russia"s transport infrastructure, together with the sudden “discovery" of Vladivostok in 1992, when its status as a closed city was lifted. Saibel identified the acquisition of three IL-76s to supplement the fleet of helicopters, An-2s and Yak-40s, as being pivotal to the development of the company"s capability. He also cited the identification of Japan and South East Asia as key potential markets as being a significant positive move. The expansion of business resulted in the lease of a Tu-154 in Ulyanovsk, followed by the purchase of another three. The Tu-154s now fly to Moscow(www.concise.org 16th June 1999), Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, the Kamchatka peninsula and Sakhalin. According to Saibel, in 1998, VA carried 160,000 passengers generating revenues of 400m rubles ($16m). Saibel confirmed that one of his priorities would be to revive the local route network. Flights to regional cities Plastun and Kavalerovo have already been resumed, but while some subsidies for regional flights are available, airlines still bear the brunt of the overheads, offsetting them against income derived from Russia"s long haul routes. Saibel admitted that VA"s use of Russian helicopters in Russia is not economic on current routes, but observed that they yield profits in the islands of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, where they carry people and cargo over difficult mountainous and wooded terrain. VA"s Ka-32s and Mi-8s have been working under an agreement with the Guinean authorities for ten years. He also acknowledged the importance of the investment, by Japan, of over $3m to support the construction of the new international terminal, which, he claimed, offered world class standards of service and was unmatched by any other airport in Siberia. Saibel stressed the company"s commitment to financial transparency and to the reinvestment of its profits, in order to maintain and develop its service and resources. Just before Russian Aviation Fleet Day, VA purchased a new Tu-154M and created more than 200 jobs. Employee salaries have increased by 35-40% over the past year. VA, which is 51% state-owned, with the balance being held by the airline"s employees, is the largest taxpayer in its home base of Artem, 25 km to the north of the city. Regional air transport in the Far East seems to be picking up according to the Vladivostok newspaper, the municipal airline located in Dalnerechensk north of Vladivostok, Dalnerechensk-Avia, has started An-2 flights to Novopokrovka, Roshchino, Melnichnoye and Tayezhnoye twice weekly. The cost of tickets is reported to be ‘modest". For those traveling to and from Tayezhnoye the new route provides direct connection for what was a circuitous route involving train, bus and according to the newspaper, hitchhiking! Vladivostok Avia (VA) is also reported to have resumed Mi-2 flights on the route Novopokrovka-Roshchino-Tayezhnoye-Molodezhnoye.

Article ID: 829