INDEPENDENT RUSSIAN airline Transaero has warned that its 1994 financial results will fall short of targets laid out at the start of the year.
Although passenger numbers more than doubled, to over 530,000, Transaero president Dr Alexander Pleshakov says that the airline was affected by "an unfair taxation situation" and "rapid increases" in costs and charges.
The airline also says that it made losses of $15 million following the collapse of the rouble against the dollar in September 1994.
Pleshakov says that the airline will press ahead with its expansion, including a nine-point programme to improve its business- class service in line with international standards.
The number of passengers carried by the airline on international scheduled services rose sevenfold during 1994, to reach more than 85,000.
Further expansion is planned for 1995, with most scheduled services becoming daily departures on the carrier's summer timetable and holiday flights added to resorts in Portugal, Spain and Egypt.
A New York sales office is due to be opened by the end of this year, ready for services to begin in 1996.
Two further Boeing 757s will be leased in 1995, joining the carrier's existing fleet of four 757s, four Boeing 737-200s and a single Ilyushin Il-86.
Source: Flight International
