[IMG=18438-4036]
By June 2006 ‘Ural airliens’ plan to start using two planes Airbus А-320. One more plane will arrive by the beginning of 2007. By 2010 ‘Ural airlines’ according to the announced program hope to acquire the total amount of ten airbuses. These liners will be over 15 years old, bought on a second-hand market. ‘Ural airlines’ also plan to establish the base for maintenance of Airbuses; the closed tender has already been announced for choosing the technical provider.
For the Russian civil aviation it is quite a large transaction. The total cost of the agreement including the expenses on establishing an aviation-techniocal database is $150 millions. ‘The airline company hopes to realize the project at the expense of credit resources and attracting partners’ investment. From the government we expect the state support – the promised reduction of customs taxes on importing planes,’ – said Alexey Fomin, head of the service of international airlines of ‘Ural airlines’. According to him, А-320 planes were selected because they match the flights they will carry out (А-320 – are planes for airline of small or medium haul with passenger capacity of 150 people. The distance of flights is around 5000 kilometres.)
Experts believe that in spite of the sufficient quantity of airlines in Ekaterinburg which use planes produced abroad (for example, Transaero, Lufthansa, VIM-Avia), the main volume of flights is carried out by ‘Ural airlines’. Therefore, the market, in general, welcomes plans of the main carrier. Yet some on-viewers fear that the aircompany, using its special position on the market, will artificially raise the air fares. ‘To make a flight on foreign-produced planes can be quite pricey for holiday-makers’, says, for example, Alexander Chirkov, director of ‘Intourline’ company. Yet the majority of tourists are still confident that prices will be comparable with those of Russian planes. ‘Do not expect prices set too high. The economy of Airbus will allow compensating expenses, connected with its acquisition’, believes Sergey Buzko, general director of Ekaterinbug company ‘Mir’.
