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Airlines in Russia: Another Russian revolution
01 June 2006
Andrew Muriel highlights a major challenge facing Russian airlines and how the industry is dealing with it.
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"If we don't have Boeing or Airbus aircraft by this summer we will be bankrupt."
The commercial director of a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) carrier uttered the above words earlier this month.
All the prophesies of 2005 that, during 2006 we would see the point when Russian aircraft were proven to be insufficient to meet the requirements of the Russian airlines both economically and operationally, have come true.
For many airlines in Russia and the CIS, it really is a case of fly and go bankrupt or ground the fleet and go bankrupt. The culprits are, of course, the high cost of jet fuel, coupled with the gas guzzling engines of the Tupolevs, Ilyushins and Yaks.
Has the Russian government done anything to ease the pain of the Russian carriers? Has it reduced or eliminated the tariffs on import of western aircraft? Not a bit of it. Shades of...
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