Krasnoyarsk Airlines (KrasAir) general director Boris Abramovich
Photo: Alexey Kudenko
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Rostekhnologia Can’t Manage AiRUnion
Rostekhnologia made its first statement since the daylong delay in AiRUnion airlines at Domodedovo Airport in Moscow. It is blaming the crisis entirely on the management of the aviation alliance. In addition, the state corporation has admitted that it cannot guarantee that the alliance airlines (KrasAir, Domodedovo Airlines and Samara Airlines) will meet all of its obligations through the end of next summer. After receiving the state package in the airlines, Rostekhnologia plans to create an essentially new AiRUnion Airline.
“The aviation companies are unable today to service the debts they have built up and to support their current production activity,” the statement reads. Rostekhnologia mentioned that federal regulator Rosaviatsia has banned the sale of all AiRUnion tickets on the winter schedule (which goes into effect on October 26). Besides identifying the alliances problems, Rostekhnologia also pinpointed those responsible for them. They are KrasAir executives headed by the company’s general director Boris Abramovich and the companies’ chairmen of the boards, including Deputy Transportation Minister Alexander Misharin of KrasAir and Tranportation Ministry department head Alexander Tikhonov (Domodedovo). According to the statement, the executives failed “to develop an adequate anticrisis management program or to take effective measures to prevent massive flight delays.” Furthermore, Rostekhnologia says, “on August 22, the private shareholders and many of the key managers were not at their workplaces.”
A source close to the state corporation said Abramovich and managing director of OOO AiRUnion Alexander Silvestrov were being referred to specifically. They even ordered other personnel out of their offices, the sources said, but the middle management continued working and contributed to the resolution of the crisis. An AiRUnion source denies that anyone was missing from his place last week. Until Thursday, Abramovich was in Hungary, where Malev Airlines, which he controls, is undergoing reorganization.
AiRUnion has a debt of $1 billion, which is three times the value of its assets. Creditors are becoming concerned. The largest of then, Airport Fuel Supply Trading House (3.5 billion rubles), issued a press release on Friday expressing its readiness to “participate actively in the stabilization of the production activity of the alliance” by continuing to fuel its planes.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 25, 2008
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