The main troublemaker of aviation officials, Pobeda Airlines, has once again gone to court with the Ministry of Transport this week. Now it is in the Supreme Court, as the low-cost airline is challenging a regulatory act: an order of the Ministry of Transport that approved new rules for carrying hand luggage last year. A passenger has the right to carry 5 kg of items in the cabin free of charge, plus a backpack, a handbag or briefcase, a suit in a garment bag, outerwear and a bouquet of flowers in addition to this norm.

Pobeda tried to prove that this "excess" list was illegal and should be cancelled. Because the provisions of the "5 kg norm" and "excess items" rules contradict each other, because the rules impose vague obligations on airlines: they do not specify what size a handbag or bouquet can be, how many items of outerwear can be taken, etc. Pobeda had very specific arguments to support its position: the low-cost airline's CEO Andrey Kalmykov brought to court a calibrator, a backpack, a garment bag, a handbag, a briefcase, several jackets and two bouquets of flowers (small and large). With the help of the airline's lawyer and journalists, he brought this evidence into the courtroom. Pobeda also had celebrity lawyer Genrikh Padva on its side, while the Ministry of Transport nominated two officials of a level below the head of the department.

The calibrator and Kalmykov played the role brilliantly, in the best traditions of courtroom thrillers. The manufacturer of our aircraft, Boeing, officially responded to us that each of the 189 passengers can safely place items measuring 36 x 30 x 27 cm on the luggage racks of a Boeing 737-800, which is why such calibrators, Kalmykov explained to the court. Then, like a magician, he began hanging items from the Ministry of Transport list on the calibrator (none of them, except for a small bouquet, would fit inside), while telling us that a checkered shuttle bag can also be called a lady's handbag if it is carried by a woman, that many people fly to Milan for shopping and try to bring several fur coats into the cabin on the return flight, etc. At the end of the speech, the calibrator was completely buried under things.

Pobeda Loses Lawsuit on Free Carry-On Baggage

Business / Transport

How to transport this in the cabin, the judge asked the officials, nodding at the stoic calibrator. They mumbled evasively in response, the gist of it was that you can find space on the shelves, and if someone has a lot of things, it’s a domestic situation, it can be civilized on the spot. Everyone felt awkward for the Ministry of Transport, only the calibrator didn’t blush. In a Hollywood movie, the judge would have lost his patience long ago and fined the officials for disrespect for the court. But Judge Yuri Ivannikov was unusually patient, although the representatives of the Ministry of Transport answered his simple and reasonable questions in a complicated and unclear way. But, like in a movie, it was immediately clear who was good and who was bad.

"Why is the Ministry of Transport so clinging to these rules?" Padva was genuinely perplexed when everything had been said and the judge was considering the decision. "Populists, sir!" Kalmykov explained. Leaving the deliberation room, Ivannikov announced that he was rejecting the claims.

How the Pobeda calibrator appeared in the Supreme Court