DUSHANBE, June 21, Asia-Plus — Boeing 737-200 wet-leased by Tajik national air carrier, TajikAir, will not help develop Tajik aviation, Mirzo Mastangulov, director general of private air company Somon Air, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, Boeing 737-200 is one of the oldest model of the Boeing 737 family and it is much older than TU-134Ms operated by Tajik national air carrier.
“I am sure that this Boeing 737-200 was wet-leased from one of Kyrgyz air companies threatened with bankruptcy,” said Mastangulov, “Several Kyrgyz air companies are on a blacklist of airlines that fail to meet the European Union’s safety requirements and they are prohibited from operating flights to the EU countries.” “Enterprising managers of these companies have deiced to reregister their planes in other countries, including the United Arab Emirates,” said the Somon Air top manager, “The leased aircraft has probably had the same history; it has belonged to one of those Kyrgyz air companies and been reregistered in Sharja, and from there it has been wet-leased.”
He claims that “thereby the Tajik national air carrier just want to report back to the government, cut a dash.” “TajiAir will fail to progress by this way; on contrary, it will lose confidence of airlines of other countries even more,” Mastangulov said
“Moreover, the wet-leased aircraft will not bring any profit to TajikAir because it will probably have to pay the lessor from $1,500 to $2000 per each flying hour.”
Wet or damp leasing aircraft is a leasing formula keeping the operational responsibility with the lessor. The lessee pays the lessor a block hour rate to cover the Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance & Insurance ”ACMI” cost. All other costs (DOC or Direct Operating Costs) are borne by the lessee, including but not limited to ground, handling, landing fees, traffic rights, flight plans, ramp services, dispatch, de-icing, aircraft parking, navigation fees, catering / bar services, fuel and lubricants, over flight costs, crew transport, passenger and security charges, passenger and cargo legal liability, war risk insurance. The lessee determines the flight program and the aircraft operates with the flight number of the lessee. The lessee is also responsible for obtaining any permission from any relevant authority (except for the Civil Aviation Authorities from the country of registration of the aircraft) which may be required for the performance of the services to be provided by the lessor.
Subject to licensing, standards and regulations the customers” suitable qualified and trained pilots, ground engineers and senior/junior cabin crew can be allowed to operate the aircraft during the lease period after approval of the lessor.
According to Mastangulov, to develop Tajikistan’s civil aviation it is necessary to train specialists and purchase new planes, but the Tajik ariline does not have financial resources to buy planes. “I think Boeing 737-200 is not that model, which could bring economic benefit to TajikAir, because it is a medium range airplane,” said Mastangulov, “To operate flights, for example, to Moscow TajikAir has to lease Boeing 737-400 or Boeing 737-800.”
He further added that Tajik aviation is so non-transparent and unprofessional that it is gradually losing confidence of airlines of other countries. “The government should take necessary measures to seed up restructuring of the national air carrier,” Mastangulov said.
As it was reported yesterday, TajikAir had leased Boeing 737-200 from EASTOK AVIA (FZE), which deals with providing aircraft leasing and chartering services. An appropriate agreement between TajikAir and EASTOK AVIA (Free Zone Entity ore FZE) was concluded at end of May. Boeing 737-200 is planned to partially replace three TU-134s on air routes from Dushanbe to Khujand, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Almaty, Tehran and other cities,
Free Zone Entities (FZEs) have been allowed in the United Arab Emirates since 1992. A FZE is 100 per cent foreign-owned and is similar to a limited liability company. The main difference is that a FZE can have only one shareholder, which is of interest to foreign companies wishing to have a wholly-owned subsidiary in the Free Zone, rather than simply a branch. The minimum capital requirement is $ 272,500 and liability is limited to the amount of paid up capital.
The 737 – a short-to-medium-range airplane – is based on a key Boeing philosophy of delivering added value to airlines with reliability, simplicity and reduced operating and maintenance costs. The 737-200 made its maiden flight on August 8, 1967. The 737-200 was widely preferred and was produced until 1988.
