Translated material
Death postponed
The Kaliningrad region is on the verge of losing full air service with the rest of Russia
The Kaliningrad airline KD Avia has been in very tight financial conditions in recent months. The critical moment came on March 11, when the carrier’s management announced that in the evening the company would stop operating due to lack of money and government support. Both federal departments and local authorities had to urgently get involved in resolving the problem (the company’s debt exceeds 10 billion rubles).For the westernmost region of the Russian Federation, air travel is the most convenient mode of transport, allowing you to get to “big” Russia much faster and more conveniently than by car, train or ferry. In any other case, the journey to the “mainland” will take more than a day and will be accompanied by constant wake-up calls when crossing the state border, presentation of a foreign passport, communication with border guards and customs officers, who warmly shine flashlights in the passengers’ faces and politely inquire about the presence of drugs, weapons, and currency in the luggage . Not everyone makes it to the “mainland” - some, it happens, are dropped off somewhere in the Lithuanian open field due to the fact that with the UPTD-ZhD ( a simplified travel document on the railway for “one-time trips” to the Kaliningrad region and back by transit train ) they are not doing well. Then these people languish, waiting for them, visa violators, to be released in peace. Or they might even put you on a blacklist.
It is possible that this method of communication with their homeland for residents of the Kaliningrad region, which does not have land borders with the main territory of the country, may turn out to be the most frequently used. After all, the local airline KD Avia was on the verge of ceasing operations due to a difficult financial situation.
The airline went into trouble about six months ago - at least then the carrier’s difficult situation became public. KD Avia carried out large-scale activities at the Kaliningrad Khrabrovo airport, building on its basis an essentially new air terminal complex. And the airport in the Russian region neighboring the EU countries ceased to look like a barn. In 2008, the so-called hub opened its doors - Kaliningrad receives flights from dozens of large cities of the Russian Federation, then sending them to European capitals. Last year, KD Avia carried almost 1.4 million passengers, while in 2007 this figure barely reached 700 thousand. The company’s management did not limit itself only to infrastructure development, it even organized rock festivals. In particular, Def Leppard, Electric light orchestra, Ellis Cooper, Joe Cocker and Scorpions visited Kaliningrad thanks to him.
It is not known what undermined the financial well-being of KD Avia more, but on March 11, the company's management announced that by the evening the planes would stop flying - there was no more money for operating activities. The top management of the enterprise made a similar statement in the fall of 2008 (the company defaulted on its obligations), but then the situation was “settled” - in fact, the airline came under the control of the St. Petersburg Bank. At the end of November 2008, at the insistence of Governor Georgy Boos, a decision was made to divide the company's activities into two independent businesses - air transportation and the operation of the air terminal complex. As a result, OJSC Kaliningrad International Airport was included in the list of 295 systemically important enterprises approved by the government of the Russian Federation that have the right to apply for state assistance. However, this did not bring relief: March 2009 again became critical for the Kaliningrad air carrier.
At first, the authorities tried, if not to save the company, then at least to make sure that “the detachment did not notice the loss of a soldier.” For example, the Kaliningrad Railway announced its readiness to send extended trains with additional cars to Moscow and St. Petersburg for those who could not reach both capitals by air. And Rosaviation, commenting on the readiness of KD Avia to stop work, said that the company could be replaced by Aeroflot - Russian Airlines, Aeroflot-Don, Aeroflot-Nord, Transaero, State Transport Company Rossiya, " Ural Airlines, UTair.
Kaliningrad aviators did not stop flights on March 11, postponing the decision until March 12. The regional government promised to provide KD Avia with guarantees for a loan of 1.5 billion rubles. for 2009-2011 (as the regional Minister of Finance Olga Malygina explained to Vremya Novostei, this year we can expect 500 million rubles, but only after the company submits documents on collateral for the loan).
The regional Duma called for the issue to be resolved at the highest federal level. “For the Kaliningrad region, which has no borders with Russia, the cessation of air travel will be a serious blow to the region’s economy. This is a question of stable development of the region, this is a political question. And the problem must be solved at the highest level,” Konstantin Polyakov, first vice speaker of the regional Duma, told Vremya Novostei. The head of the regional tourism department, Marina Drutman, fears that if KD Avia ceases to exist, the development of the regional tourism industry will be put to rest: “Because of the crisis, we have a decline in foreign tourists, we wanted to compensate for it with the help of Russians, advertising the region in those large cities where KD Avia planes fly. But if planes stop flying, then what's the point of advertising? Who will fly to us? On what?
If KD Avia does fold its wings, then there will certainly be many who want to occupy its niche. At one time, Aeroflot showed increased interest in Kaliningrad. In the early 2000s, the general director of the company Valery Okulov, accompanied by the plenipotentiary representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Northwestern Federal District Ilya Klebanov, then acting. Deputy Minister of Transport Alexander Neradko and banker Alexander Lebedev even brought models of the future airport. All development plans voiced by KD Avia were questioned as too ambitious, and Aeroflot’s ideas were presented as quite real.
But now the new airport is almost completely built, and this is precisely the most valuable part of the airline business (all of the airline's Boeings are leased, not owned). As Governor Georgy Boos stated, to help the carrier, it is planned to restructure both KD Avia itself and its debt - the creditors' claims will be directed specifically at the airport complex. The future of the airline was discussed in the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and the regional government. While awaiting the outcome of these negotiations, KD Avia did not suspend its activities.
On the afternoon of March 13, the press service of KD Avia reported that thanks to measures taken at the state level (creditors deferred their demands, and VTB, according to the head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, Igor Levitin, intends to provide a new loan), the company’s work is returning to normal. It was even stated that in 2009 the carrier plans on its own to maintain passenger traffic at almost the same level. So, apparently, it is too early for Kaliningrad residents to reorient themselves to railway transport.