Charter carriers selling speculative capacity set to suffer in seasonal licensing (762 words)

Published: 12/17/2001

According to Stanislav Ovcharenko, the head of the licensing department at the GSGA, he does not understand why the recent round of licensing communications by cable from the agency to airlines appears to have caused such debate among airline"s operating charter flights. The cables according to Ovcharenko, are the GSGA"s normal method of requesting information from airlines. The use of cables to ask for information regarding seasonal charter flights from the 15th December 2001 to 31st January 2002 was therefore entirely in line with the previous round of licensing prior to the summer season in 2001. Cables having been sent to operators in April 2001 informing them that lists of carriers would be created for the 7 most popular charter destinations. Ovcharenko also claims that GSGA had simply asked the airlines to provide information about licenses for routes, the carrier"s financial situation, the number of flights airlines planned, flight schedules, available aircraft and reserves and agreements with travel agencies for charter flights. According to Ovcharenko the only questions that have not been present in previous surveys are those relating to agreements with travel agencies. These questions related to contracts being added, according to Ovcharenko, at the suggestion of the Ministry of Economics and Trade Development as part an effort to provide some protection to travelers by establishing the ability of the airline to meet obligations. Therefore avoiding the events of festive season 2000-2001 when RusAvia left 500 passengers stranded due to insufficient aircraft to meet contracted obligations. Ovcharenko believes that many of the objections to the questions are coming from those carriers that are unlikely to meet the GSGA"s criteria of what is a viable charter carrier for international charter routes. Ovcharenko said that the process of issuing the new licenses is currently underway with airlines such as Aeroflot, Sibir and CMW (Caucuses Mineral Waters Airlines). He also added that they had received information from several airlines including Kuban Airlines, Ural Airlines, Astrakhan Airlines, IRS-Aero and Aviaenergo for licensing for 140 charter flights. He did however add that as a result of the cables the GSGA had been having some face to face discussions with several airlines to “coordinate issues". The larger airlines also support the view that the cables are normal practice, with Alexander Us, the Deputy General Director of Domodedovo Airlines (DAL), saying that his airline was not surprised by the information requests. He also added that DAL"s aircraft were in good condition, and they always kept aircraft in reserve in the event of a replacement being required. Commenting on the reported deadline for complying with the GSGA information requests, Ovcharenko said that the 10th of December is the point were the agency will reach its first conclusions and the actual deadline would be determined by the country of destination. Despite Ovcharenko"s reassurances however, travel agencies remain nervous about the process and are worried that they may have signed agreements with airlines that will not meet the GSGA"s requirement. Irina Tyurina, the spokeswoman from Russian Association of Travel Agencies (RATA) commented that in the past it was normal practice for carriers to sell seats and then find capacity as in the case of RusAvia. The GSGA questions ahead of licensing however, suggest that the GSGA will exclude airlines without direct or contracted access to aircraft ahead of the period. For Tyurina the GSGA efforts have however, come to late in the seasonal booking period when most of the contracts for carriage and packages have already been contracted and sold. It would appear from Ovcharenko"s comments however, that he is unrepentant in the timing of the clampdown and makes the observation that the travel agencies have a choice of reliable carriers without having to contract with carriers that sell space and then lease capacity. He also suggested that the GSGA would be happy to give travel agencies advice regarding available carriers. Ovcharenko making the clear implication that the agency would not be recommending airlines without secure access to capacity and travel agencies should pay more for such guarantees. He also added that RusAvia sold its capacity at levels he considered to be “dumping" and those agencies that used them suffered the consequences. Commenting on China and Turkey"s plans to stop over flight by Russian carriers not equipped with TCAS, Ovcharenko said that airlines had enough aircraft equipped with TCAS to meet the requirement. As for other countries such as Iran who have introduced a similar ban, Ovcharenko said that the authorities are allowing some aircraft not equipped with TCAS on a case by case basis.

Article ID: 2957