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Home | Update | Latest Issue | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 5/97 CIS: AIR TRAFFIC AT THE LIMIT by Heiko Reuter Flying in the CIS states: Chaos and anarchism are the new rulers of aviation in this region of the world. After the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, the air traffic system collapsed also. Delays, even for days, are only the little problems. Sometimes the flights don't go to the destinations that are printed on the tickets but to a place where kerosene is cheapest. An airline manager said that the prices for kerosene went up by 240 percent in the last year. Sometimes, passengers are lucky to even leave the airplane safely. Catastrophic crashes are repeatedly making headlines, showing how far down commercial aviation in the CIS states has gotten. The most recent flight safety report from the Interstate Aviation Committee, which is responsible for the coordination of air traffic between the independent states since the end of the USSR, lists 13 accidents with casualties for 1996. Statistically there were 3,5 accidents with casualties per 100000 flights in 1996 - the worst quota of all times. The committee lists four main reasons for this horrible balance: lack of control over the mass of newly founded companies and airlines, aged aircraft, bad maintenance, and false loading. Often, more passengers are on the plane than the aircraft has seats available. People spent the whole flight sitting in the aisles or in the lavatories. Travelers from the West tell stories of goats, even pigs on board some domestic flights in Russia. Comfort and service are unknown words for most of the air traffic in the CIS. Even during the old USSR times was Aeroflot not a customer-oriented airline but a sole transport company. Its job in the communist state system was to transport as many people as possible for minimum prices from one corner of the large country to another. Profitability was unknown to the airline. This mass transport means has never been very reliable. Aeroflot tickets were always hard to get. In 1990 approximately 25 million passengers had to stay on the ground, the underground economy was blooming. In the times of the USSR, Aeroflot had always been more than just the national carrier. Air traffic and Aeroflot were the same. It not only operated the world's largest fleet of aircraft (7000). In its high-time, 400000 employees worked for the company that also owned the airports and was responsible for air traffic control. The giant was managed by the ministry for civil aviation which itself was controlled by the military. With the end of the USSR in the beginning of the nineties the time for Aeroflot was over too. An already worn-out air traffic system fell completely apart. The controlled chaos was replaced by an uncontrolled one. New airlines were founded wherever some Aeroflot aircraft were parked. The licence was handed out for a handful of dollars or a favor. A dozen independent states were fighting for what was centrally controlled from Moscow before. The legal basis and structures for the country's air traffic were suddenly outdated. It was soon clear that new regulations were needed. A new aviation law was to put air traffic on a market oriented commercial basis. Airports, air traffic control, and airlines were to be under separate control. This was the situation at the beginning of 1992. Today, five years and numerous concepts later, the new air traffic codex has come up for the third reading in the Russian parliament. Still, even if President Jelzin signs the document sometimes this year, the problems are not solved. Critics say that the codex is generating "judicial chaos" only, with the military still having control over the airspace. The biggest dilemma of the air traffic in the CIS is its chronical financial plight. 60 percent of the 8203 aircraft registered in Russia (1872 passenger aircraft, 824 freighters) are older than 15 years. Many have only scrap value. When the noise emission regulations according to chapter 3 apply in Europe beginning in 2002, the majority of Russia's fleet will not be allowed to enter European airspace, the country loosing one of its most important sources of foreign exchange currencies. Only 40 airliners of Western manufacture are registered in Russia. Still, these aircraft fly an average four to five times as often as Russian made aircraft. One of the main reasons is that there is no problem with the supply of spare parts for Airbus, Boeing or McDonnell Douglas airliners. The situation of the country's air traffic control system is not any better. The technology is ancient. Of the formerly 3000 airports there are only 845 left. Only six of them offer somewhat Western standards. Since reliable data is not available, the financial need of the CIS air traffic system is difficult to guess. Western consultants estimate that investments in the range between 50 billion and one trillion US dollars would be needed to shape the system up to Western standards. At the end of 1996, just in Russia, which is the largest of the twelve CIS republics, 390 airlines and air transport companies were registered. Only 111 were flying on scheduled services. Approximately 100 carriers are registered in the Ukraine. Most of the new airlines don't even deserve that name. None of them has ever learned to survive on the free economy. The same applies to the new, partially privatized Aeroflot. Aeroflot Russian International Airlines (ARIA) is now operating 120 aircraft and has 13500 employees, only a remaining fragment of the former air traffic dinosaur. However, ARIA must still fight the structures from its past. General director Evgeni Schaposchnikov had planned to shape the airline strictly to economical terms, to cut unprofitable routes and order only Western aircraft. He had to face massive resistance from the government and the Russian manufacturers. Schaposchnikow had to leave his job at the beginning of March. His successor Waleri Okunow is the son in law of Boris Jelzin. Hopes are on Transaero, an airline which was founded in 1990 by private financiers in Moscow. As the first carrier in Russia, Transaero is offering a business class and a frequent flyer program. Aviation experts say that only 20 to 25 of the newly founded carriers have a realistic chance to survive. Many of the others are supposedly obscure companies, money laundering and controlled by the Mafia. Moscow, where still most of the air traffic strings run together, has become an Eldorado for Russian aviation. Still, the investors are missing. Domestic air traffic has collapsed while the international traffic is growing continuously. The situation in the other CIS states is unclear. Nobody can see how long the infirmity of the CIS aviation will last. There is not much hope if the branch doesn't manage to find and hold to economical structures. From page 14 of FLUG REVUE 5/97 Home | Update | Latest Issue | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 5/97 Copyright 1997 by Motor-Presse Stuttgart. All rights reserved. Last updated March 30, 1997