Week of February 24, 1997
Russian Civil Aviation in 1996 The Federal Aviation Service (FAS) has revealed statistics on Russian civil aviation in 1996. Last year the volume of passenger traffic saw a drop of 9% from 71.5 million km-passengers in 1995. According to Ivan Valov, first deputy director of FAS, in 1996 the losses of all Russian operators totalled Rbs 1.5 trillion, with only 20 companies being profitable. The top 18 air companies are
said to be responsible for 74% of all passenger traffic in Russia, whereas the 278 weakest ones account for only 1%.
The Tupolev Tu-154B/M remains the primary Russian civil airliner, with its share in all-Russian passenger traffic being 40%. In total, Tupolev's designs - Tu-134 and Tu-154 - carry 70% of all passengers. Currently, the airliners with fuel consumption higher than 39 gram/km-passenger - the Il-62M, Tu-154B, Tu-134, An-24 and Yak-40 - carry 60% of In 1996, Russian operators acquired 8 new indigenous aircraft; in 1997, this number is expected to be 11. At the same time, in the next few years the annual withdrawal rate of old airliners, whose lifetimes are expiring, will be between 150 and 200 units. In the short term this trend will not have a serious effect on the volume of Russian passenger traffic, because the total capacity of the existing fleet exceeds market demand by double. This is due to a sharp fall in the volume of passenger traffic over six years, from 159 m km-passengers in 1990 down to 71.5 m in 1995. Ivan Valov says that at the moment there are 337 licensed operators in Russia, whereas two years ago this number was 503. During 1996, FAS withdrew 106 licenses and a decision on several dozens of other operators, whose activities have been halted, is expected soon. Valov explains that FAS actions are taken against carriers who can not provide a sufficient level of flight safety and has nothing to do with operational profitability. "I think that even unprofitable air companies have a right to live, because they employ people and keep pilots flying," he says. According to Valov, FAS foresees a drastic deficit of pilots in Russia at the beginning of the next century, because of a very low number of students in civil flying schools. In a separate move, FAS is preparing new instructions on licensing. "At one time everybody in Russia could fly to wherever he wanted," Valov states, adding that those times are gone now. Today each operator must have a FAS license to work on a particular route. However, Valov continues, the current norms needs revision. He admits that the new instructions may cause further reduction in the number of licensed operators.
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passengers. The share of foreign-
made airliners remains moderate - 34 aircraft in service with 11 companies.
