Major carrier support for annual event declines (494 words)

Published: 4/9/2001

The fourth annual Wings of Russia event took place on 29th March and was organised by the Association of Air Transport Users, InfoMOST and the Air Transport Observer magazine. The winners are chosen by a committee of judges drawn from within the aviation transport industry excluding employees of participating airlines. The prize is a Wings of Russia trophy, for a number of categories. The competition is considered by some observers to be somewhat self-serving, on the part of the industry, as it is based on performance of RPK (revenue passenger kilometres), rather than passenger opinion of the service provided - punctuality and on-board service, for instance, are not included in the contest. Two major carriers were absent from the competition this year, despite being winners in the past - Volga-Dnepr winner of the Wings of Russia as the best cargo carrier for 1998 and 1999 and Sibir, arguably one of Russia's best airlines and the third airline in terms of RPK in Russia. According to Volga-Dnepr it decided not to participate because it did not require the validation of a competition. Sibir would not comment on why it had not participated, although rumour has put it down to its previous non-selection as a winner. Nevertheless, the contest remains important for airlines, as they believe winning the contest improves their images with passengers. There were reports last year that East Line approved a special budget for financing PR activity in the hopes of improving East Line's chances of becoming best cargo carrier. In the event, the tactic proved unsuccessful (it lost to Volga Dnepr). This year the airline was to be thwarted again by its grounding in the latter part of the year. Aeroflot's absence from the international carrier category, won by Pulkovo Airlines, was as a result of the airline's decision to withdraw on the grounds that it was obviously the largest international carrier. Aeroflot then won in the best cargo carrier category, explained by the fact that the ratio used also considers passenger luggage as well as paid cargo....an interesting decision! The contest did not bring any surprises. CMW (Caucasus Mineral Waters), Samara Airlines and Saratov Airlines managed to keep their places this year. The fact that Tyumenaviatrans (TAT) won the two categories it decided to enter not surprisingly given its performance in 2000. In some ways this annual competition always seems to be the perfect illustration of what is wrong with Russian civil aviation and it is encouraging to see some of the larger players treating it with the disdain it deserves. If the industry sees the contest as a mark of performance, the competition should be qualitative and reflect the view of the user/passenger, rather than relying on a situation where the major carriers know they will win by simply because they are the largest players.

Article ID: 2472