Aeroflot
And Air France Join Forces
- This month Aeroflot Russian International Airlines and Air France signed
an agreement establishing an alliance. Mark Veron, the delegated director
of Air France and Valery Okulov, general director of Aeroflot, applied
their signatures to the document which calls for closer cooperation on
passenger and cargo conveyance and maintenance of aircraft. This is the
first time the Russian flag-carrier signed such an agreement with a western
operator. Okulov said, "There is no illusion that this event will
hit the headlines in the press, but for us it is a very important step
forward."
-
- The agreement allows Air France passengers and Aeroflot passengers
to utilize the networks of both companies. The two operators agreed to
accept each other's tickets. As a result, the geography of services offered
to Russian and French passengers has widened. As of today, Aeroflot airliners
flies 115 airplanes to 166 destinations in 93 countries. The company's
domestic network comprises 10 Russian and 11 CIS airports. In its turn,
Air France has 205 airplanes visiting 197 destinations in 98 countries.
-
- Speaking at the press-briefing last week,Okulov said, "I always
believed that Aeroflot is a very conservative company, and have had many
cases to make sure that was true. Despite that, we managed to prepare this
agreement in a very short time, from Paris to Zhukovsky."
-
- However, the two companies had fruitless negotiations during the past
two years, Okulov admitted. In saying this, he was in a way hinting toward
the role he played
- in forming this alliance (Okulov was elected the general director on
May 30).
-
- Among other benefits, the agreement calls for joint business in cargo
conveyance. As a first step, the companies will start a weekly Il-76TD
service Paris-Moscow-Paris. Okulov said, "The agreement brings to
life those commercial rights that we potentially had before, but did not
use. There are some 'dead' frequencies, which are in the inter-governmental
agreement, and we are going to make use of those. We will start with one
weekly Il-76 flight, and then add more."
-
- By teaming with Air France, Aeroflot wants to win the passenger flying
on the routes linking Western Europe and Russian province.
-
- Okulov said, "Beyond any doubt, the recent agreement will help
us take some passengers from other operators. People used to fly from France
to, say, Ekaterinburg via Frankfurt, but now they can do it via Sheremetievo
with Air France, and then with
- Aeroflot to Ekaterinburg."
-
- To make convenient corrections between each other's flights, the companies
will introduce changes in the current timetables. The agreement between
Air France and Aeroflot also calls for code-sharing flights.
-
- Naming the rivals and friends in the battle for passengers, Okulov
said, "We, in Aeroflot, value the position of Air France to our company,
when the relations
- between the French and Russian carriers are built up on the firm basis
of mutually-beneficial agreements. Sadly, this position is not shared by
other foreign carriers - Lufthansa, British Airways and others."
-
- Okulov said the aircraft currently flying to France - the Airbus A310
and Ilyushin Il-86 - both comply with the world's standards. In the future,
the company will add a third type, the Boeing 737-400. Having 10 aircraft
on order, Aeroflot is planning to place them first on routes to Germany
and Finland, and then to France.
-
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