The national airline has another competitor

Siberian UTair began selling tickets for the flight Kazan - Vnukovo (Moscow). General Director of Tatarstan Airlines Magomed Zakarzhaev believes that the Ministry of Transport and Road Facilities of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Kazan International Airport acted “thoughtlessly” by scheduling a UTair flight to Moscow just half an hour after a similar flight of the national airline. However, the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Tatarstan does not rule out revising the schedule of one of the carriers, and, most likely, it will be UTair. Yesterday, the head of the regional transportation department of UTair, Yuri Romanyuk, at a presentation in Kazan, announced that the Siberian airline had begun selling tickets for the Kazan-Vnukovo (Moscow) flight. UTair has become the third airline operating civil flights from Kazan to the Russian capital. Prior to this, Siberia (S7 Airlines) and Tatarstan airlines were represented on the market.

UTair airline has been operating since 1967. Until 1992, the company operated as the Tyumen Civil Aviation Administration, and until 2002 - as Tyumenaviatrans OJSC. The airline ranks 2nd in Russia in terms of the number of passengers carried based on the results of the first quarter of 2006. The company's own fleet consists of 123 regional and long-haul aircraft. The airline's passenger turnover growth in 2005 was more than 20%. This year, UTair is introducing 12 new flights, intending to carry about 2.5 million passengers, increasing last year's result by a third. At the presentation it was announced that the first UTair flight from Kazan to Moscow will take place on July 18 at 7.55. As Magomed Zakarzhaev, general director of Tatarstan Airlines, told Kommersant, the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Tatarstan and Kazan International Airport did not consider it necessary to inform his airline about the provision of a UTair slot. “Everything was done in secret from us,” he said. In his opinion, this is a “thoughtless approach”, since the average load of the Tatarstan AK flight at 7.25 to Sheremetyevo is only 45%.
Deputy Head of the Air Transportation Department of the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Tatarstan Alexander Volkov told Kommersant that the right to transport UTair was granted on the condition “if the flights of Tatarstan Airlines are not blocked.” “We are now looking into why this happened. This became known just yesterday - we received an appeal,” he said. Mr. Volkov added that there is already an order from the Minister of Transport and Roads of the Republic of Tatarstan to reschedule the flight of one of the air carriers. Which of the three and to what extent, according to him, is still unknown. “Most likely, UTair will have to fly at another time, because we will try not to offend Tatarstan,” said Mr. Volkov.
Meanwhile, another competitor, Siberia Airlines, views the arrival of a new company in the republic favorably. Director of the Sibir representative office in Tatarstan Damir Galliev said that his company has positive experience of interacting with UTair outside the republic. The commercial director of Kazan International Airport, Marat Almukhamedov, also speaks approvingly of the changes in the Tatarstan aviation market, noting that several air carriers make more than 10 flights a day from the ports of neighboring Ufa and Samara to Moscow.
LILIYA MIRGAZIEVA

Kommersant (Kazan) No. 121 from 07/06/2006, p. 12

“Tatarstan” will not be offended