The alliance is being tested for strength

The Antimonopoly Agency has questions for aviators

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) is checking the validity of tariffs of airlines that are members of the Air Bridge alliance. The order for the inspection was signed by Deputy Head of the FAS Andrey Tsyganov, and the FAS department for the Krasnoyarsk Territory was entrusted with carrying it out. The largest of the Air Bridge member companies, Krasnoyarsk Airlines (Krasair), is based in Krasnoyarsk.

The press service of the regional administration of the FAS told Interfax that at the first stage, the inspectors set themselves the task of establishing whether an alliance of air carriers exists in the strictly legal sense of the word. However, as a Vremya Novostey correspondent was told at the FAS central office in Moscow, it will not be easy to find out, because Russian antimonopoly (as well as economic law in general) does not provide for such an organizational form as an alliance. But antitrust officials can (and most likely will) look for signs of price collusion in the activities of Air Bridge member companies. FAS press secretary Irina Kashunina refused to comment in detail to Vremya Novostey on the progress of the investigation in Krasnoyarsk, citing the fact that she was not familiar with this case.

In addition to Krasair, Air Bridge includes four more airlines based in different parts of Russia: Domodedovo Airlines (DAL, Moscow), Samara, Omskavia and Krasnoyarsk Sibaviatrans. The alliance members do not hide their goal of creating a single company in the future. But for now, each retains economic independence, working with other partner companies on a contractual basis. At the same time, the unifying factor of the alliance is the figures of the twin brothers Boris and Alexander Abramovich, who occupy various leadership positions in most Air Bridge companies. They own the Sibaviatrans company. At Krasair, 51% of whose shares are owned by the state, they hold the positions of general director and first deputy general director, respectively. Alexander Abramovich is also the CEO of Air Bridge LLC, the management company of the alliance of the same name. In addition, last week Messrs. Abramovich was introduced to the boards of directors of DAL and Samara following the results of the annual meetings of shareholders of these two companies.

“After the existence of the alliance is proven, we will begin to study the economic component of air transportation and check their (tariffs - Ed. ) validity,” Oleg Kharchenko, deputy head of the regional department of the FAS, told Interfax.

In his opinion, as a result of the audit, one of the decisions may be made: the FAS will either issue an order, according to which prices for air tickets for alliance members will have to decrease, or oblige the alliance members to pay into the federal budget the excess profits they received from the sale of air tickets. If the Air Bridge participants prove the socio-economic justification of their prices for air travel, the case will simply be closed.

The press service of Krasair declined to comment yesterday, citing the fact that the company had not yet received an official order to conduct an antimonopoly audit.

Mikhail KUKUSHKIN