Airline considers A-310s as expedient solution to its pressing need for new aircraft, although is continuing discussions with Ilyushin and Tupolev (271 words)

Published: 10/15/2001

Krasnoyarsk Airlines (KrasAir) is again reviewing the possibility of acquiring Airbuses, having in mid-2000 expressed interest in A-320s. According to Svetlana Volodina, spokesperson for the airline, on 9th October, a team from Airbus's Russian office, including Sergei Ermolaev, Director of business development and Sergei Nedbailo, Marketing Manager, presented KrasAir with a preliminary proposal for the operation of the A-310. According to Volodina, KrasAir is also in talks with leasing companies over the acquisition of Il-96s, Il-76TFs, Tu-204s and Tu-214s within 10-year financial leasing structures. But it is doubtful that any Russian new aircraft could be delivered before 2004 and the company needs new aircraft for the development of its home base at Krasnoyarsk Airport into a major regional hub. During last summer's schedule, the airline significantly increased traffic via Krasnoyarsk through its so-called fan schedule and plans to increase traffic further in the future, in addition to opening more international routes. Boris Abramovich, General Director of KrasAir, forecasts that traffic in 2001 will be in the region of 1.1m passengers: an increase of 51% on 2000's 726,516 passengers. The talks with Airbus have therefore been prompted by the airline's short-term requirements, specifically in the form of A-310s on three year operating leases. Agreement on the terms of the lease deal are expected to be completed by December 2001, after the discussion of what KrasAir describes as “the technical and economic issues of A-310 operation as well as other issues”.

Article ID: 2823