As expected, the latest auction failed to attract any bids at the $4.2m starting price (293 words)

Published: 11/8/2001

Andrei Kolesnik, Deputy General Director of 100% state-owned Sakhalin Airways (SAT), has reported that the newly repaired Il-62, leased to the airline by the Sakhalin regional administration, failed to sell on 30th October 2001 owing to an absence of bids. The starting price for the aircraft, which was built in 1993, was Rb 119,655 m ($4.2 m). The region acquired the aircraft in 2000, in an effort to provide the region with an alternative to Domodedovo Airlines on long haul route Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk - Moscow, but losses forced it to cancel the route in February 2001. The failure to sell the aircraft was predicted by Igor Pozyuk, Commercial Director of SAT in September 2001, given the ready supply of aircraft on the Russian market and the increasingly lack of viability for the fuel inefficient aircraft on long-term routes, which led Dalavia to replace its loss making Il-62 with a Tu-214. The Sakhalin administration had already tried to sell the aircraft in mid-August 2001 at the same starting price, with repairs to the aircraft having been undertaken by the region, after a taxiing collision with a DAL Il-96-300 in June this year, but this generated no interest. In May 2001, a Moscow airline emerged as a possible bidder, but nothing materialised. Kolesnik said that the administration is considering selling at a lower price but does not believe it should be a bargain price, given that many of the existing Il-62s are reaching the end of their safe lives, which could renew demand. In the meantime, the administration will lease the aircraft and is considering a proposal from SAT to use it on flights to Korea.

Article ID: 2896