Zubarov man gets the job (287 words)

Published: 4/12/2001

Aeroflot has appointed 36-year old Evgeny Bachurin as its new Commercial Director, a post that has been unfilled since the departure of Alexander Karasnenker. Bachurinn previously Aeroflot's director of treasury, a post that he had held since 1999, is regarded as a protégé of finance Deputy General Director Alexander Zurabov. Born in Moscow, Bachurin is a language graduate in Spanish and English and between 1996-1999 worked for KLM in Russia. His new responsibilities include his previous department, commercial activity in Russia, commercial activity abroad and marketing The appointment has led to speculation that Bachurin may ultimately takeover from Alexander Zurabov, as Deputy General Director of finance and commercial activity and that Zurabov would replace Okulov as General Director. Reports of Okulov's imminent demise have however, proved to be premature in the past, despite the speculation of a number of candidates for his job including Nicholai Shipil, formerly of Pulkovo Airlines and recently appointed as General Director of Rossiya. Okulov however, despite his association with the previous administration, poor relations with the airline's unions and the thorny issue of operation of foreign aircraft, has kept his place and does not appear substantively weaker than he was a year ago. The only slight cloud on his horizon, was the rumoured acquisition of a substantial holding in the airline by Roman Abramovitch, although it appears the buying may have been done with Aeroflot's agreement. The state has recently announced that it will not sell its 52% holding this year and from comments made by Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov , relating to foreign aircraft operations during recent demonstrations, Okulov has persuaded the government that his current strategy is correct.

Article ID: 2488