Saratov and Voronezh airlines create an alliance

As Kommersant learned, Polet airline, Voronezhavia company, which includes the Voronezh airport complex, and Saratov Airlines (SarAvia) are negotiating to merge their businesses - forming an alliance of carriers similar to AirBridge. A similar initiative was made by the general director and owner of the Polet company, the famous designer Anatoly Karpov. According to him, the formation of an alliance is beneficial, first of all, because Saravia and Polet use the same type of aircraft - the Yak-42. Currently, the merger project is under development, but a working group has already been created, which includes representatives of the three companies. Voronezhavia Airlines OJSC owns six Tu-134 aircraft, three An-24 aircraft and the Voronezh airport complex. 35% of Voronezhavia shares are owned by the state, less than 25% belong to minority shareholders, including ex-director Evgeny Shabunin. 24% of the shares are controlled by Polet airline, which specializes in cargo transportation. The owner of Polet is designer Anatoly Karpov. In August 2003, Voronezhavia had its operator’s certificate revoked due to the accident of a Tu-134 aircraft owned by the company in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. Its main activity is airport services and station services.
JSC Saratov Airlines (SarAvia) was created in 1994. The controlling stake (51%) belongs to the state. The company's fleet is represented by Yak-42, AN-24 aircraft, and MI-8 helicopters. SarAvia's annual income is about 500 million rubles.
Yesterday it became known that the Polet company and SarAvia had reached preliminary agreements on the creation of an aviation alliance. Information appeared on the official website of Voronezhavia that representatives of the companies agreed to share the use of a fleet of airliners, coordinate the schedule, and in the future, merge. According to Voronezhavia CEO Vladimir Malakhov, the merger of small airlines began two years ago, when the Federal Air Transport Agency took the initiative to consolidate regional companies that were not able to fully ensure transportation safety.
It is expected that the alliance of Voronezhavia, SarAvia and Poleta will be able to resolve transportation issues not only on domestic but also international routes. As Mr. Malakhov explained, the Saratov aircraft fleet has a Yak-42, the technical characteristics of which allow air transportation to Europe, in particular to Germany. It is this route that is planned to be actively developed when creating the alliance. In addition, Voronezhavia is ready to provide an airport for flights to Bulgaria and Turkey. The general director and owner of Polet, Anatoly Karpov, considers the merger of the two carriers beneficial because both companies use the same type of aircraft - the Yak-42. SarAvia has seven operational aircraft, and Polet has two aircraft.
The plans of Polet and Voronezhavia to merge with SarAvia are quite ambitious. As Mr. Malakhov stated, the merger will allow Voronezh Airport to increase passenger traffic to 450 thousand people per year, although for Voronezh this figure “looks fantastic.” "Polet", according to Mr. Malakhov, from June 15 intends to operate more than 20 flights per day from the Voronezh international airport (Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Izhevsk, Perm and other cities). According to his forecasts, the number of passengers will soon increase to 1 thousand people per day (today - 250 - 300 people per day).
However, according to Anatoly Karpov, the merger project is still under development. Nevertheless, a working group has already been created, which includes representatives of SarAvia, Polet and Voronezhavia. According to the deputy head of the Voronezh regional department for industry, transport and communications, Yuri Nizovtsev, it is premature to talk about the formation of an alliance. According to Mr. Nizovtsev, he recently met with representatives of SarAvia. The first deputy general director of the company, Vitaly Tsaran, proposed organizing charter flights to Turkey in Voronezh, where they already have their own tour operator. There are no direct flights to Turkey from Voronezh, and to get there, Voronezh residents have to fly from Moscow.
YANA MINENKOVA

Kommersant (Volgograd) No. 71 from 04/21/2005

SarAvia will merge with Polet