State air carrier appeals to the state for help
The interdepartmental commission set up to pull Air Ukraine (AU) out of its crisis has proved ineffective because it includes top executives of Air Ukraine International and Aerosvit, AU rivals, which lobby their own interests, Serhiy Valiayev, chairman of the Airlines of Ukraine fliers’ trade union, told a press conference attended by journalists and trade union leaders on April 3. Moreover, the commission does not regularly meet, its latest session having been held in May last year. Meanwhile, trade union leaders claimed, the competing companies are taking over, under the guise of crisis management, AU’s traditional routes, which adversely affects its competitiveness. An attempt was made early in 2002 to sell AU’s unique installations on the territory of Boryspil Airport to AUI and Aerosvit for a song.
AU trade unions are also critical of the Ukraviatrans program for developing Ukrainian civil aviation, which instead of providing a place for a domestic air carrier has divided all the airspace among companies with foreign capital. Union leaders think that, if implemented, this program will make Ukraine a state that only offers services, such as check-in, baggage delivery, airplane fueling, etc., to foreign air companies. At the same time, Mr. Valiayev noted, it is possible only to establish a large international hub on the basis of Boryspil if there is a Ukrainian national long-range air carrier.
The idea of merging the three largest air carriers, put forward last year by Minister of Transport Valery Pustovoitenko, seemed premature to many. It is still far from being practically implemented. Moreover, the future partners not only fail to iron out but further exacerbate their differences. “We do not understand how domestic and Western capital can be merged,” Mr. Valiayev said. The already difficult situation is being aggravated by the dire straits that Ukraine’s only state-run air company is in. In nine months of 2001 alone, it incurred $2.5 million in losses, while its total wage arrears reached UAH 4.5 million. AU now has an aircraft fleet of only two Tu-134s and one Tu-154. The company had to discard its IL-62 after new strict aircraft noise regulations took effect on April 1, 2002. The new AU manager Oleksandr Davydov, who enjoys support from his employees, is now in the US, negotiating the acquisition of medium and long-range airplanes. When the company acquires the new planes, Mr. Valiayev said, it will do its best to get back the routes it was deprived of. He also believes that Ukraine should pass laws concerning Air Ukraine as a domestic carrier. Air Ukraine has sent a letter to the president, asking the head of state to take measures to protect Ukraine’s state civil aviation.
