Translated material
Castles in the air
Moscow authorities claim to manage all the city's main airports
Apparently, under the pretext of mass complaints from passengers about the conditions of service at airports in the capital region, the Moscow authorities decided to resume negotiations with the federal authorities on the transfer of Sheremetyevo to the management of the city. At least, judging by the colorful presentation of a kind of concept of the program “On improving passenger service at the airports of the Moscow aviation hub,” presented yesterday at the next meeting of the Moscow government, the mayor’s office has already begun preparations for the competition to select a management company for this international airport.Let us recall that at the end of last year, the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Elvira Nabiullina, announced the upcoming selection of a manager for managing Sheremetyevo Airport in the second half of 2010.
Capital officials, to whose management Vnukovo Airport was previously transferred, insist on expanding the powers of the region in matters of regulating the activities of all airports. The mayor's office is confident that unified management will make it possible to organize better services in the monopoly industry. “Now there are three natural monopolies, but there is serious competition between them,” Vasily Kichedzhi, head of the city’s department of transport and communications, told reporters yesterday. At the same time, according to him, competition acts to the detriment of passengers rather than in favor of developing the quality of services. In particular, according to a survey of passengers at the Moscow aviation hub commissioned by the mayor's office, the worst situation at the capital's airports is with the organization of parking (this deficiency was indicated by 70% of respondents) and public catering (52%). City officials insist that Moscow, as a manager, can ensure transport accessibility to airports. In particular, according to Mr. Kichedzhi, now, together with OJSC Russian Railways and LLC Aeroexpress, a project is being prepared for the construction of a new logistics complex at the Kalanchevskaya railway station, which should become a single transfer hub for the delivery of passengers to Domodedovo airports, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo. “We plan to launch this transport hub in 2012. This will be a separate station from which it will be possible to get to the capital’s airports,” the official announced far-reaching plans. However, he did not specify the sources of financing for this project. In addition, the capital's transport workers are going to include the cost of travel on already operating railway routes from the capital's stations to airports in the cost of the air ticket.
As an argument in favor of the management team of the mayor's office, capital businessmen cite the experience of Vnukovo Airport, which began to develop intensively with the transfer of its assets to the control of the city. In particular, as Mikhail Greidin, general director for production at Vnukovo Airport OJSC (Moscow owns more than 60% of the company’s shares), said yesterday, the first stage of reconstruction of the airport complex and a new terminal with a total area of 173 thousand square meters will be commissioned in May. m. Upon completion of the general reconstruction of the airport terminal complex in 2015, up to 250 thousand square meters will be put into operation. m of new space. In particular, the company's management plans to expand the areas for shops and catering, which, according to Mr. Graedin, will both increase the airport's income from leasing space and ensure a reasonable pricing policy for additional service enterprises. In general, Vnukovo expects to increase the airport’s passenger traffic to 20 million passengers per year. It should be noted that the head of the city’s consumer market and services department, Vladimir Malyshkov, yesterday repeatedly raised the issue of the need for widespread development at the airports of the capital region not only of restaurants and cafes, but also laundries and other consumer service enterprises.
It is noteworthy that city officials are apparently trying to enlist the support of state air transportation coordinators and border guards. However, officials of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “State Corporation for the Organization of Air Traffic in the Russian Federation” and the Federal Agency for the Development of the State Border of the Russian Federation presented only dry, narrowly professional reports on their activities, which greatly annoyed members of the capital’s government.
The fact that the three main airports in the region need to be united under common management is also believed by the General Director of the Airport Civil Aviation Association, Viktor Gorbachev. “It is quite logical that the capital’s authorities want to restore order in their zone, because no matter what airport people fly to, they fly to Moscow and all the criticism for poor quality service is poured into the Moscow government,” Mr. Gorbachev said in conversation with a Vremya Novostei correspondent. In addition, according to him, unified management of this monopoly is a world practice. For example, in Paris one manager unites 12 airports, in London - eight. According to Mr. Gorbachev, without coordinating their activities, air terminal companies “got to the point that they are going to increase the volume of passenger traffic to 140 million people a year.” The current capacity of city airports is 53 million people. “This is absurd,” says the expert. The Civil Aviation Association "Airport" is confident that the disorderly development of airport infrastructure "will result in an increase in tariffs and fees for transportation." “In a good way, all three airports should be managed by one company,” says Mr. Gorbachev. According to the association, about 70% of the shares of Domodedovo International Airport CJSC belong to the East Line company; the rest of the stake is state-owned. OJSC Sheremetyevo International Airport is 100% state owned.
However, experts and officials of the capital’s government noted that for now this is nothing more than a declaration of intent. At least, apparently, the mayor’s office has the opportunity to win over the management of Sheremetyevo Airport.
As the press service of Sheremetyevo International Airport OJSC told Vremya Novostey, during this year the owner will decide on the exact conditions under which the management company will be selected. At the same time, representatives of Sheremetyevo emphasize that “a significant contribution to the development of the airport from the Moscow authorities would be the expansion of routes and the construction of new interchanges on the Leningradskoye International and Starosheretevo highways. The company also hopes that the city will eliminate the landfill adjacent to the airport, where construction of a new landing strip is planned.