| Siberians rebuffed Muscovites Yesterday in Krasnoyarsk, a Domodedovo Airlines (DAL) airliner, with which the capital company intended to open regular flights to this Siberian city, received an unfriendly welcome. The local airport, Yemelyanovo, which is owned by rival airline Krasnoyarsk Airlines (KrasAir), forced guests to fly back empty. DAL estimate their damage from the incident at 1 million rubles. and now they want to at least receive this amount from KrasAir, and at maximum deprive the latter of their license for air transport activities. The fate of regular DAL flights to Krasnoyarsk remains a big question.
Il-96-300 with 53 passengers on board, including First Deputy General Director of DAL Alexander Russ, landed in Yemelyanovo at 8.15 am local time. But the guests were unable to immediately set foot on Siberian soil, as the staff refused to adjust the ladder. The ramp appeared about 20 minutes later, and in the meantime, in the airport building, they announced over the loudspeaker that the return DAL flight to Moscow, scheduled for 10.45, was delayed, but passengers who bought tickets for it would be able to fly on a KrasAir charter flight. In the afternoon, this charter took the failed DAL clients to the capital, and the airliner of the capital company received permission to fly there after a 9-hour delay and empty.
First Deputy General Director of KrasAir Evgeniy Ruzaev explained the incident by saying that the size of the taxiways and parking at Yemelyanovo airport is insufficient to receive the Il-96-300, therefore, the landing of this airliner violated safety requirements. Alexander Russ told reporters yesterday that the restrictions referred to by Ruzaev have already been lifted. But the real reason for the scandal is the monopoly position that KrasAir created for itself in Emelyanovo and wants to maintain in the future.
Krasnoyarsk colleagues might really not like the tariffs of Muscovites. A one-way ticket to Moscow on a KrasAir flight costs 6 thousand rubles, and DAL entered the market offering a similar service for 3120 rubles.
Meanwhile, as it turned out yesterday, there is no contractual legal basis for servicing DAL aircraft in Yemelyanovo. The airline does not have a corresponding agreement with the airport (and, as Russ explained, KrasAir representatives are delaying its signing in every possible way). In this regard, the prospects for the second DAL flight scheduled for today are unclear.
Alexander Russ remained in Krasnoyarsk yesterday and expected a meeting with KrasAir CEO Boris Abramovich. Russ said that if this conversation does not allow the two companies to find mutual understanding, then DAL will seek to revoke KrasAir's permission to engage in air transportation. Mikhail KUKUSHKIN |
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