Departure without guarantees

Nobody will pay for the delays in flights to Russian passengers under the wing of the Atlant-Soiuz airline to the bankrupt “Domodedovo Airlines” (DAL) and “Krasaire” has not yet ensured uninterrupted transportation of their passengers. On Friday, the flight should go from Vnukovo to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Some passengers were waiting for him about five days. At the same time, Sheremetyevo Airport on Thursday with many hours of delays left the aircraft of international and internal flights, mainly Aeroflot airlines. As compensation, passengers who have lost time can only count on 25 rubles for each hour of delay.

As Gazeta’s press service told Vnukovo Airport, the flight to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky should go on Friday. The exact time, however, is unknown. On board there will be several dozen passengers who have been waiting for a flight from Sunday last week. “The Sunday flight was canceled due to the shortage of passengers. Some of the passengers were sent by other Siberian flights, so that then with a transfer to reach Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Those who abandoned this option or who did not have enough space should fly out on Friday, ”a source to Dal told Gazeta. At the same time, as the newspaper was assured in the Vnukovo press service, not a single passenger was sitting for five days at the airport. “The efforts of the Atlant-Soiuz airline were placed in hotels,” the press service said. Formally, the Atlant-Soiuz, on the basis of which a new aircraft holding will be created, which will be included in Krasaire, does not respond to their passengers until the operator certificates are withdrawn from these airlines. The other day, the Federal Air Transport Agency decided to extend certificates to both airlines until October 28, explaining that carriers have obligations to passengers. With their obligations, as Thursday showed, carriers cope with difficulty, and they themselves fly on their own a little less than a month. Experts in this regard advise passengers if possible to refrain from buying tickets for these airlines in order not to waste time at the airports.

Thursday, however, was not easy for airlines, which, it would seem, are far from bankruptcy. In Sheremetyevo, the Aeroflot flight to London was detained for four hours, and the flights of the same carrier to Kaliningrad, Novosibirsk, Norilsk, Khabarovsk, Perm and Anapa were also canceled. “The London flight lingered for technical reasons, as the windshield heating indicator did not burn on the plane, so the side had to be replaced, the Kaliningradsky - since he did not accept the Kaliningrad airport,” the Aeroflot press service explained, adding that the rest of the flights of Aeroflot’s daughters are Aeroflot -Norda Aeroflot-Don, from which the head company disowned after a recent tragedy with Aeroflot-Norda aircraft in Perm.

Recall that in Russia, according to the Air Code, a passenger of a detained flight can count on free meals and placement in a hotel during downtime and 25 rubles per hour of delay in compensation. “World practice is more fair to passengers. In Europe, for example, compensation is calculated on the basis of a flight range and can reach tens of thousands of euros. In this sense, we have the entire laws on the side of carriers, ”said Irina Tyurina, spokeswoman for the Russian Union of Trade of Trade.

02.10.2008 / Elena Ogneva, the material was published in the newspaper No. 188 dated 03.10.2008.