Federal Agency Cuts Winter Charter Programs of Three Airlines

MOSCOW. Nov 1 (Interfax) – The Federal Air Transport Agency has considerably reduced the number of winter charter flights of three airlines – VIM Avia, Krasnoyarsk Airlines and Orenburg Airlines, agency head Yevgeny Bachurin told a press conference in Moscow on Thursday.

“The summer season was generally successful. About 970 out of 24,000 charter flights were delayed. The majority of delayed flights were made by VIM Avia, Krasnoyarsk Airlines and Orenburg Airlines,” he said.

The Federal Air Transport Agency and the Federal Technological, Environmental and Atomic Supervisory Service analyzed reasons for the flight delays, and said that 70% of the delays resulted from the poor technical condition of aircraft, and 30% from bad weather.

VIM Avia was responsible for the majority of delayed flights, 234, in January – September 2007. Krasnoyarsk Airlines had the highest percentage of delayed flights. Other airlines had about 4% of delayed flights in their charter programs.

“We have seriously reduced the number of winter charter flights of VIM Avia, by 15-20%,” Bachurin said.

The number of winter charter flights of Krasnoyarsk Airlines and Orenburg Airlines will drop by 10-15%.

“We think we have the right to take the step, as the Federal Air Transport Agency gave warnings to the airlines. We will be monitoring winter charter flights and take measures against any transgressors,” he said.

Meanwhile, Atlant Soyuz, Tatarstan Airlines, Transaero, Rossiya and Urals Airlines committed the smallest number of violations in the first nine months of this year.

The number of charter flights of Russian companies increased by 15% in January-October 2007. Winter charter flights from 26 Russian cities to 57 locations abroad have been coordinated.

(c) 2007 Daily News Bulletin; Moscow – English. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.