Thursday, August 25, 2005. Page 7.
Aeroflot Looks West to Replace Il-96 Jets
By Lyuba Pronina
Aeroflot is negotiating a temporary lease of Western long-haul jets to make up
for a shortfall in capacity after the Transportation Ministry grounded the
country's fleet of Ilyushin 96-300s for safety reasons earlier this week.
"We are in talks with charter operators to lease a number of long-haul aircraft
for the time that the Il-96s are grounded," Aeroflot deputy general director
Lev Koshlyakov said in a telephone interview. He declined to provide details.
Aeroflot, which flies six of the 13 Il-96s operated in Russia, had to make
significant changes to its schedule after authorities grounded the plane on
Monday because of problems with its braking system. Aeroflot scrambled to use
other airplanes, canceled its two weekly flights to Hanoi, reduced the
frequency of service to Washington and delayed departures on Toronto-bound
flights by one hour. Aeroflot has suspended flights to Hanoi until Sept. 5, either refunding the
full fare or redirecting passengers to other airlines, Aeroflot spokeswoman
Irina Dannenberg said. Il-96s make up 40 percent of Aeroflot's long-haul fleet.
Russia's No. 4 airline, KrasAir, which flies two Il-96s and operates three more
on behalf of Domodedovo Airlines, is considering filing a lawsuit against
manufacturers for damages once it finishes tallying losses, said spokeswoman
Olga Trapeznikova. She said that the companies had been deprived of jets in the
peak season and that KrasAir was using its entire fleet to be able to meet
demand.
The unprecedented grounding comes after technical problems forced President
Vladimir Putin to switch from his Il-96 to a back-up Il-62 during a visit to
Finland earlier this month. The Transportation Ministry said on Monday that a
faulty part in the jet's braking system was reported in several incidents
earlier this month. The defect arose because manufacturers did not adhere to
the original design, the ministry said. The Federal Industry Agency said on
Tuesday that by the end of the week it would come up with a plan to fix the
problem. It is not clear when the aircraft will be back in service. Aeroflot
has said that if the Il-96 is not returned to operation by year's end, the
airline is set to lose $30 million-roughly the price of a Russian-made Tupolev
204.
Both KrasAir and Aeroflot said that besides the problems in the braking system,
other malfunctions have occurred in the aircraft's operation. "There are about
24 components-not critical for safety but that complicate the aircraft's
operation-that need to be fixed, and this list has not been reduced over the
past three to four years," Koshlyakov said. "Aeroflot received this
underdeveloped aircraft in 1993 and has invested $70 million of its own money
[into improvements], which should have been done by the industry," he added.
Il-96, the last big achievement of the Soviet aviation industry, was designed
in 1979 and entered operation in 1993. The plane seats up 300 passengers and
has a range of 11,000 kilometers.
c Copyright 2005 The Moscow Times. All rights reserved.
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