17 charter carriers for flights to selected vacation destinations (400 words)

Published: 5/29/2001

The Ministry of Transportation has prepared its June list of carriers to authorized to service popular charter destinations, as part of it's recent policy of restricting charter carriers numbers servicing vacation destinations. The destinations covered by the Ministry of Transport remain the same as May, namely: Istanbul, Anatolia, Barcelona,Larnaca, Paphos (Cyprus), Varna, Burgas (Bulgaria). The 17 airlines approved include Domodedovo Airlines, KrasAir, Sibir, CMW (Caucasus Mineral Waters), East Line, GTK Rossiya, Pulkovo Airlines, Ural Airlines, Vnukovo Airlines, Continental Airlines, AJT, Atlant-Soyuz, Aviaenergo, Orenburg Airlines, Omskavia, Irs Aero and Tesis. The Ministry has added Tesis, a Moscow-based minor carrier, to the list in June for one flight to Larnaca. As expected, despite some complaints about delays in May, KrasAir is still on the list. According to Stanislav Ovcharenko, the head of the licensing department with the ministry, KrasAir was not penalised for the delays, as it is to be trying to resolve problems for passengers and agents, through offering free flights and compensation for delays to travel agencies. This policy has led agencies to support the continued inclusion of KrasAir on the ministry's list. As in May, the ministry has offered fewer flights than the airlines requested. A total of 90 flights a week to Anatolia were requested, but only 75 granted. The 31 flights requested for Barcelona and 17 flights for Larnaca airlines met with only 26 and 12 flights being granted. The ministry has, however, increased flights on some routes in 2001 over 2000, increasing flights to Anatolia from 33 in June 2000 to 75 in 2001. The ministry's position is that it believes that the airlines' flight requests were too high and reduced them accordingly. In fact, Ovcharenko, despite the airlines' objections, still believes that the decreased numbers in June are too high and that subsequent demand will show this, as it did in May. Irs Aero asked for three flights a week to Anatolia and three to Larnaca in May, according to Ovcharenko: flights for which the ministry was reluctant to grant permission, but was “persuaded” to do so. The subsequent low levels of demand have resulted in the Irs Aero flights being cut to one flight to Larnaca in June. In July and August, the Ministry will create further charter lists and, undoubtedly, the airlines will again be pressing for greater frequencies, particularly given the height of the traditional vacation season at the end of July.

Article ID: 2564