Negotiations for routes begin

Published: 6/27/2000

Sakhalinsky Aviatrassy (SAT) has announced that it has a licence to fly charter flights and is currently negotiating for routes. The most attractive potential routes, according to Andrey Kolesnik, the airline's sales director, is that to Seattle. The airline is now able to fly this route as the US authorities have withdrawn their objections to the use of the Il-62, which fails to meet US noise regulations. Elsewhere, the airline is considering charter flights to South East Asia. The company is currently in the process of acquiring a second Il-62 from the Kharbarovsk Administration in return for unsettled debts from the region's utility companies to the Sakhalinsk gas company, Sakhalinmorneftegaz. The second aircraft is to be used on the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk-Moscow route. However, the granting of the licence is reported to have been delayed due to the reshuffling at the Ministry of Transport, which has now taken responsibility for the FSVT. The airline has routes within the region and also serves international destinations in South Korea using a Yak-40 and Boeing 737-200.

Article ID: 1879