11/08/2019 16:39

VIM-Avia Airlines fail to gain licences for flights to Vladivostok and Omsk

[IMG=18853-4495] On January 18th in the Federal Agency of Air Transport a license committee ruled on licences for air companies to develop new routes domestic. The VIM-Avia Air Company was refused a license to fly from Moscow to Omsk and Vladivostok. VIM-Avia has been fighting for these destinations for a long time. It is necessary for the company to extend its’ range of destinations in Russia in order to achieve optimal flight load. But in both regions local Air Transport Managements are against VIM-Avia flights. And without their permission, the License Committee of Federal Agency of Air Transport does not have right to license the flights. Regional authorities claim there are already sufficient flights to satisfy demand. However, Mikhail Gribkov, General Director Deputy of VIM-Avia believes that in fact local Air Transport Managements simply lobby in the interests of their local air companies - Omsk-Avia and Vladivostok Avia, who are afraid of Moscow competitor. Gribkov insisted that: ’Most experts agree that such a policy is in violation of various Russian licensing and competition laws’. In order to break down the resistance of local authorities, VIM-avia has held negotiations with various government institutions, including the Ministry of Transport, which, according to Gribkov, will help facilitate the resolution of the problem. In general, regional expansion is a problem for many air companies. Those players who have been in the market for a long time have long faced such difficulties, and continue to have problems to this day. As Ilya Novokhatskyi, Head of The Sibir Airways Press Service, admitted: 'to develop new routes can be a problem. Sometimes even experienced players do not manage to negotiate new routes with regional airports'.