Published: 4/24/1998

24th April 1998 - Issue 57 In an exclusive interview with ConCISe, Nikolai Moshkov, general director of Nizhny Novgorod Airlines (NAA), said that Aeroflot opening flights between Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod might have a negative result on relations between the two carriers. "From partnership we have come to competition", he commented. The local airline, which today maintains daily Tu-134 service to Moscow, cannot compete effectively with Aeroflot unless it gets a long-awaited permission to fly to Sheremetievo airport instead of Bykovo. "If we moved from Bykovo to Sheremetievo, the load factor would rise and we could open two or, perhaps, three daily flights instead of nine weekly flights now", Moshkov said. The increase in traffic would come chiefly from foreign passengers as they find Bykovo inconvenient (services from this airport are limited to flights inside Russia). "We have an increasing flow of foreigners who want to fly to Sheremetievo and then, from this airport, abroad", Moshkov carried on. Last year the leadership of Aeroflot and NNA agreed to unite their companies but, in December, NNA shareholders voted against this. "We continue efforts towards merging with Aeroflot, but the shareholders have a different opinion to that of ours", said Moshkov adding that the problem can be solved in other waythan that of uniting the capital bases". Last year Aeroflot and NNA signed an interline agreement and had discussions about line exchange and joint flight options. When, suddenly in Moshkov's view, Aeroflot obtained a licence for regular flights Sheremetievo-Nizhny Novgorod. "Last year we had negotiations with Okulov and discussed quite another solution. But then they simply come and open their own line. Aeroflot has become a competitor", Moshkov grumbled. He carried on that this competition might have a negative effect on NNA and, subsequently, the population of Nizhny Novgorod. "We fly not only to Moscow, which is a very lucrative line. The money earned on this route goes for maintaining unprofitable services to smaller destinations, for instance Volgograd, Sverdlovsk, Tchelyabinsk and others. If we do not withstand the competition we will have to close these services altogether." Moshkov expects that traffic via the airport might fall by 10% if a compromise with Aeroflot is not found. NNA is offering the national carrier joint operations on the Moscow route, so that both companies can fly to Sheremetievo. "If they agree to help us get permission to fly to Sheremetievo, then we will both benefit, as will our passengers", Moshkov said. As though answering this offer, Valery Okulov, Aeroflot general director, said 3 February, "We hope to have close mutually-beneficial co-operation with NNA and Nizhny Novgorod airport. Certainly, there are no plans to suppress the local airline. Only co-operative work with them will allow us to achieve better results." According to Okulov, NNA does not have a fleet to fly to Siberia and farther, and would only benefit if Aeroflot would put its airplanes on long-range routes from Nizhny Novgorod. Moshkov admits that the situation with NNA fleet is serious. "We cannot afford new airplanes. Our existing fleet is not that old, but it needs overhauling", he said. Repair and modification work should be done on the company's An-24s, Tu-154s and Tu-134s, but NNA's operating capital is not sufficient to use Eurobonds and credits of foreign banks (these, according to Moshkov, are ready to credit NNA under guarantees of the regional administration). The permission has not been given yet, Moshkov expects a shortage of Tu-134s in summer, with subsequent termination of several services. (VK) (AL498.7)  

Article ID: 147