Paul Duffy/MOSCOW
HUGE INCREASES in airport charges and fuel costs are threatening to stifle the beginnings of a recovery in the Russian airline market, the country's carriers have warned.
Russian airlines have been reporting signs of growth for the first time since 1990, when passenger traffic collapsed after the fall of the Soviet Union. They warn, however, that efforts to keep the expansion moving are being thwarted by airports which have failed to adapt to the new economic conditions.
Grigori Gurtavoi, president of privately owned airline Transaero, points out that passenger traffic is still at only a quarter of the 1990 peak, yet airports have done little to cut costs or seek other commercial income. He accuses operators of attempting to compensate for lower passenger volumes by simply raising charges.
"Of all the Russian airports served by Transaero, only Nizhe Vartovsk listened to us and brought down their charges to allow us time to develop the route," he says. Other major airports, such as Pulkovo in St Petersburg, are "among the worst", he adds.
Andrei Konstantinov, director of operations at Vnukovo Airlines, echoes Gurtavoi's comments. "If Russia's air-transport system is to develop, airport conditions and prices must improve," he says.
Rising fuel prices also come in for criticism. At the end of 1994, aviation fuel cost $85-90/t, but is now selling at some airports for as much as $300/t.
Andrei Ivanov, finance director at Vnukovo, admits that Russian inflation has been rampant, but he criticises the country's monopolies for artificially raising prices by far more than inflation.
"We have had huge inflation in the early 1990s, but a level of stability has been reached in the past year. We buy from monopolies, but we sell on the open and competitive market," Ivanov says.
He adds that, during the last financial year, air-navigation charges alone rose more than one-hundredfold. "We are working in a very difficult market and this sort of increase makes it impossible to plan," he says.
Source: Flight International
