Published: 4/24/1998

On 24 March, the Federal Aviation Service of the Russian Federation (FAS RF) had a meeting devoted to the understanding the current situation in the cargo aviation sector. It was preceded by a special meeting of the Russian Government on the same theme. Special reports say that in 1997, the annual cargo trafficreached 2.48m km-tonnes, and its share in overall air traffic 31%. Estimates, made by FAS RF, say the annual revenues of all Russian operators from cargo conveyance has been around $700m, which accounts for 15-20% of all income generated in the aviation industry. The top ten cargo carriers of the Russian Federation are Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines (21%, including 10% in cargo compartments of passenger airliners), East Line (8%), Volga-Dnepr (8%), Domodedovo Airlines (6%), Atlant-Soyuz (3%), Anran (3%), KrasAir (2%), Baikal Avia (2%) and Tumen Airlines (2%). The tenth carrier, with 9%, is the 224th Flight Detachment of the Air Force, which has authority from the Defense Ministry and FAS RF for commercial operations. These top ten carriers together hold 64% of the market. Thanks to the unique super-heavy airlifter, the An-124 Ruslan and its certified civil version An-124-100, Russia and the Ukraine are absolute leaders in the sector of the unique, super-heavy and bulky cargo conveyance. Roughly, the volume of revenues in this sector lies between $150m and $300m a year. The biggest players in this market are the HeavyLift/Volga-Dnepr and AirFoyle/Antonov joint ventures, both using An-124-100s. In all, Russia holds ninth place in the world on annual cargo traffic. The country's cargo fleet consists of 500 freighters of all classes, which is roughly 30% of the national civil aircraft inventory. Despite heavy tax and severe customs rules, Russian cargo aviation remains profitable, unlike the passenger sector. The major part of the increase in traffic figures comes from the international flights sector, but there are many signs that in the near future, the cargo business might receive major orders from large Russian industrial enterprises. For instance, only fossil fuel companies import various equipment worth $3-5bn, annually. Currently, the bulk of it comes by rail or via western logistics companies, but Russian cargo operators believe they might get their share too. Despite rather large annual traffic, Russian cargo operators do not offer their customers so-called logistics services, with the only exception being East Line, specialising in "shuttle" operations on the Chinese routes. Development of logistics systems is one of the most logical directions for the Russian transport industry. Perhaps the most powerful restricting factor for the whole of the Russian economy now is the customs system. "It is our national disaster", Aleksei Isaikin, general director of VolgaDnepr, told ConCISe. According to Isaikin, Russian customs rules and procedures do not comply with international standards set by ICAO, IATA and the World Trade Organisation. Each airport has its own "specifics" peculiar to its customs station. All this not only restricts development of Russian airlines, but also deprives the country of potentially high revenues from using its airspace and airports for transit cargoes. Isaikin states that if the Government replaces the current customs procedures for those acting in the rest of the world, then in one year the revenues generated by the existing cargo fleet will double, and by the year 2000 they would reach an annual level of $2-3bn. Should the customs procedures be eased, it would allow Russian cargo operators to make effective use of cargo versions of the Tu-204, Il-96, A-310 and DC-10. Now, due to customs specifics, it is impossible to keep them flying 10-16 hours a day, which does not allow it to make use of the high turnover capabilities of these designs. So far only one western cargo airplane, the DC-10, has found use in Russia. But this particular example, in service with Aeroflot, does not come through customs, making flights between Western Europe and Japan via Russian airspace.(VK) (AL498.2)

Article ID: 142