DUSHANBE, October 22, 2008, Asia-Plus — 50 passengers on the flight Dushanbe-Krasnoyarsk (Russia), operated by the Russian air carrier KrasAir, which is part of Russia’s airline alliance AirUnion, have been left stranded since October 21 because of KrasAir’s debts to the Tajik air company
TajikAir.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the source at TajikAir said that KrasAir now owed more than 89,000 US dollars to TajikAir.
“The plane was supposed to fly to
Krasnoyarsk
yesterday but the flight was delayed,” said the source said, “The Russian airline promised to repay its debts to TajikAir today by 5:00 p.m.”
He added that KrasAir had repeatedly promised to repay its debts to TajikAir for fuel and ground services.
“However, they have not fulfilled their promises so far.”
The Russian airline alliance AirUnion comprises five regional airlines including KrasAir and Domodedovo Airlines.
We will recall that AirUnion left thousands of passengers stranded in late August and in September when it grounded scores of its planes across
Russia
after suppliers halted fuel deliveries over the company”s debts.
The alliance was forced to ground flights in late August at the height of the holiday season, when fuel suppliers started to shut off supplies to the company. Flights from
Moscow
”s Domodedovo airport, the Siberian city of
Krasnoyarsk
and airports in the
Far East
were particularly affected.
Some media reported that AirUnion — the third-largest operator of domestic flights — faces debts of more than US$1 billion, exacerbated by escalating jet fuel costs since the beginning of the year.
Operating aged Russian-built planes, its fleet consumes far more fuel than more efficient Airbus and Boeing planes, say analysts.
According to some Russian media, Vitaly Vantsev, co-owner of
Moscow
’s Vnukovo airport, will head the alliance and licenses of KrasAir and a number of other air carriers will be revoked.
The new holding being created by Russian state-controlled corporation Rostekhnologii will include Atlant-Soyuz, KrasAir, Rossiya, Kavminvodyavia, Orienburg Airlines, Saratov Airlines and Vladivostok-avia.
Vitaly Vantsev will be director general and chairman of the board of the new air holding.
