Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DCAlexander Velovich/MOSCOW
RUSSIAN CARRIER Transaero is seeking bids for a potential $1.26 billion-worth of orders for new narrowbody and widebody aircraft, some of which will be used on routes linking Moscow with US cities, says the airline's deputy chairman Grigory Gurtovoy.
Speaking in Washington DC, Gurtovoy said that bids from European, Russian and US aircraft-manufacturers will be considered. The Russian carrier is eventually seeking up to 40 new aircraft, including 12 widebodies for long-haul routes. The narrowbodies are being sought to serve points in Russia and the CIS.
"We are seeking new aircraft to handle the company's growth over the next ten years," says Gurtovoy. "Detailed aircraft requirements will be made available to bidders in the coming months, with deliveries to begin in the 1997/8 timeframe."
Transaero, which began charter flights in late 1991, owns one Ilyushin Il-86 and leases five Boeing 737s and five 757s.
It is about to introduce the first of three McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30s, taken on five-year lease from American Airlines, on services from Moscow's Sheremetyevo 1 Airport to the US destinations.
The airline operates more than 140 scheduled flights each week to nine Russian and 14 international destinations, including Berlin, Kiev, London, Paris and Tel Aviv. The DC-10s will begin operations on a weekly Moscow-Los Angeles service on 16 June, and US services will be expanded to include Orlando and Chicago.
Sources in Moscow are surprised by Transaero's announcement because, although the airline carried a total of 1.8 million passengers in 1995, rating it the fourth- or fifth- largest carrier in Russia, its own resources are not sufficient to fund the planned fleet expansion.
Transaero's 1995 revenues amounted to $168 million, and the company is reported occasionally to have financial difficulties, leading to delays in salary payments.
Other Russian carriers claim that Transaero enjoys a "privileged status" within the Russian airline industry. Alexander Pleshakov, Transaero's chairman, has strong connections in the Russian Government, with his mother, Tatiana Anodina, occupying the post of the chairman of the CIS Interstate Aviation Committee, and his step-father, Yevgeniy Primakov, holding the position of Russian foreign minister.
It seems unlikely, however, that the Government would issue state guarantees for financing Transaero's purchase without attracting unanimous and strong opposition from other carriers.
Source: Flight International
