Published: 4/24/1998

Last year, Volga-Dnepr did not manage to improve its traffic figures, but had a 25% rise in the effectiveness of operations, Aleksei Isaikin, the general director of the cargo operator, said at the press briefing on 10 April. In 1998, the company plans to finish the process of becoming a highly economically-efficient business. Isaikin is happy that the share of "occasional " cargo operations has been going down, with more orders coming from large industrial corporations. In 1997, the largest part of orders came from NASA, Boeing, Lockheed and other space agencies and manufacturers. The second largest part was that from engine companies such as Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce and General Electric. In all, the share of high-tech cargoes increased by 60% in 1997. Another tendency is increasing demand for the carriage of bulky cargoes from fossil fuel producers. For two years Volga-Dnepr has worked with British Petroleum, which chartered over 100 An-124 flights, chiefly for transportation of bulky cargo to Columbia. Volga-Dnepr is in negotiations with other companies involved in oil projects in Africa. Among exotic cargoes was the jet-powered car which set a new world's speed record. Volume of sales in 1997 was about $100m, some $10m less than in 1996. According to Isaikin, the drop came as a result of the company's decision to decrease "shuttle" operations on delivering consumer goods from China, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey in the interests of shop-tourists. The peculiarity of this market is that the planes fly empty to a foreign destination, returning crammed with low-density cargoes. In all, the share of work made outside of Russia in 1997 stood at 90%, with the bulk of missions flown between industrially-developed countries. Isaikin says he expects that "shuttle" flights will gradually be replaced by a more civilised cargo flow under contracts between operators, foreign manufacturers of consumer goods and their CIS distributors. So far orders from large Russian industrial companies for air conveyance have been limited. Isaikin, however, believes that following British Petroleum, Russian fossil fuel produces will become interested in cargo aviation as well. Although Isaikin admitted difficulties with acquisition of new aircraft, he confirmed that Volga-Dnepr has certain plans on fleet expansion. "We will not confine ourselves to the An-124 and Il-76", he said, adding that under consideration are the Il-96T, Tu-204C and "a western type".(VK) (AL498.4)  

Article ID: 144