Only plane crashes will be assigned to MAK in Russia

The Russian government will sharply reduce the scope of powers of the CIS Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC): key functions for certification of aircraft, engines and airfields in Russia will go to the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Federal Air Transport Agency. The committee will retain only the powers to investigate aircraft accidents. The scope of the IAC's powers has often led to conflicts with Russian regulators, primarily with the Federal Air Transport Agency, and its scandalous decision to suspend the type certificate for the Boeing 737 is considered the reason for depriving the committee of most of its functions in the market.

Photo: Alexander Shcherbak, Kommersant / buy photo

A number of functions of the IAC for certification of aircraft structures, engines, and airfields are transferred to the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Federal Air Transport Agency, Dmitry Medvedev said, the draft resolution should be considered by the government. In the future, the government may consider transferring other functions from the IAC, if necessary and “appropriate.”

IAC is a supranational body responsible for flight safety in the CIS. Established in 1991 by intergovernmental agreement, its participants are 11 republics of the former USSR (except the Baltic states and Georgia). The main functions of the committee are issuing aircraft and airport type certificates, developing recommendations and regulations, and investigating aircraft accidents. The functions of certifying airlines were transferred to the Federal Air Transport Agency in the early 2000s. The IAC has been headed by Tatyana Anodina since 1991, funding comes from contributions from countries (in proportion to the volume of traffic, the Russian contribution in 2015 was 253.9 million rubles) and deductions from fees for air navigation services and certification.

Yesterday, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told TASS that “the protocol decision has not yet been signed.” The Federal Air Transport Agency declined to comment; the Ministry of Industry and Trade did not respond to Kommersant’s request. A Kommersant source familiar with the situation says that according to the draft resolution, the functions of issuing type certificates for aircraft and airfields can be divided between the Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will oversee the certification of engines and propellers. He added that the IAC will continue to investigate accidents: according to a number of departments, the supranational status of the committee “helps influence partners in the CIS.”

According to Kommersant, depriving MAK of some of its functions has been discussed in the industry for several years, but behind the scenes. The main controversy was caused by the “multifunctionality of the committee” - issuing a type certificate for the aircraft and conducting investigations. A Kommersant source in the industry says that “such duality cast doubt on the objectivity of MAK,” and there were questions about “affiliation”: Ms. Anodina is the mother of Transaero’s largest shareholder, Alexander Pleshakov, and previously owned 3% of the company’s shares.

Conflicts have arisen more than once between the IAC and the Federal Air Transport Agency. This fall, the situation worsened: the IAC suspended the type certificates for the Boeing 737 following an investigation into the plane crash in Kazan in 2013, which caused a scandal, since this is one of the most common aircraft in the Russian Federation (see Kommersant on November 6). According to Kommersant's interlocutors, immediately after the scandal with the Boeing 737, a meeting was held in the relevant departments, and a proposal to withdraw the powers of the IAC was sent to the government.

Leading researcher at the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the Higher School of Economics, Fedor Borisov, notes that the Russian certification system is being brought into line with world practice, according to which these functions should be performed by national authorities, but the process of creating a new system for investigating the disaster is by no means quick. In the absence of such a body in Russia, retaining these functions for the IAC at this stage seems logical, the expert believes.

Elizaveta Kuznetsova

International Emergency Committee