Rumours surround the acquisition of Tu-154s and Tu-204s

Published: 7/11/2000

According to Sergey Sokratov, Deputy General Director of Omskavia, the recent stories relating to loansfrom Moscow-based Alfabank for the acquisition of a Tu-154M and the possible funding of future purchases of Tu-204s are incorrect. The airline did acquire a Tu-154M recently, but according to Sokratov, the aircraft was acquired from their resources, although local sources suggested some of the funding came the local Omskpromstroybank. The aircraft was not new but bought from an operator in Minsk, Belarus. He also said that they had no plans to borrow the reported $1.2m from Alfa. The airline is currently operating nine Tu-154Ms and an unspecified number of other aircraft including Tu-154Bs, An-26s and An-24s, and according to reports, ten An-2s. Sokratov was reluctant to say how many of the aircraft were airworthy, but he did comment that some of them are currently being repaired and several are being cannibalised for spare parts. The Omskavia An-2 fleet is also reported to have recently embarked on a programme of upgrade to An-3 designation, from piston to new turboprop engines at the local Polyot plant. During 1999, the airline saw a fall in traffic from the 146,628 passengers carried in 1998 and does not believe that there will be any revival during 2000, despite the general trend upwards elsewhere in Russia. The reason for this according to Sokratov is the competition on their main Omsk-Moscow route from all the major carriers including Aeroflot, Transaero and Sibir. The impact of the competition, says the airline, has been to force down seat load factors by 30%. While reluctant to discuss the specifics of the company's performance, Sokratov did say he believed that the fall in load factors in particular had forced the airline into losses.

Article ID: 1923