Siuazione dell'aviazione in Russia

[FlyIce]

Questo articolo (purtroppo in inglese) è apparso sulla stampa russa pochi giorni dopo gli attentati della fine di Agosto.
Secondo me contiene un'ottima descrizione dello stato dell'aviazione in Russia e, siccome mi è tornato per le mani in questi giorni, ho deciso di postarvelo.
Dopo circa un mese l'articolo è ancora attualissimo ...
... ma finalmente per acquistare un biglietto aereo, anche per un volo interno, bisogna presentare il passaporto...
... a Luglio mi ero scandalizzato nel poter volare con una prenotazione con il mio nome errato e con "Mrs." davanti ...
... questo poi mi faceva particolarmente inca$$are.

Una perla: il mome del consulente americano ...


Terror Costs Threaten an Industry on the Rise

By Alex Nicholson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Soviet air travel the phrase evokes stomach churning journeys on rattling aircraft, surly service and rubber sandwiches. But since the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia has strived to overhaul the industry's sorrowful image.
Those efforts now face a new challenge after last week's crashes of two airliners, apparently brought down by terrorists.
The cost of implementing post Sept. 11 security regulations world-wide will cost even the wealthier airlines and airports hundreds of millions of dollars, according to industry data. While British Airways may be able to lavish $1.5 million on security training alone each year, such sums are beyond the wildest dreams of most of the country's struggling air companies.
Moscow based aviation analyst Paul Duffy estimated that the country's 25 airports would probably have to spend an average of $30 million each to bolster security following last week's attacks.
"I don't think any Russian airport would be happy with paying that much," he said.
In a country that sprawls across 11 time zones and has only one road linking one end to the other, air travel is a key service. But travellers who chose planes over the slower if more romantic trains often did so with heart in mouth.
Air travel in the 1990s was characterised by shabby planes, drunken passengers and a cavalier attitude toward safety that reached a grim climax in 1994 when 75 people died in the crash of a jetliner whose pilot was letting his 16 year old son fiddle with the controls.
The Soviet monopoly carrier Aeroflot was sliced and diced into hundreds of smaller carriers of doubtful finances, murky management and unpleasant reputations
Aeroflot, still the country's major international carrier and an important player on long haul domestic routes, began a bold makeover three years ago.
Flight attendants were given smiling lessons. The planes were decked out in silver, orange and blue livery as the company rebranded in an effort to shake off a dour image that had made it perhaps the world's most jeered airline.
"They were extremely courageous," says Tom Austin, deputy chairman of Identica, the London based consultancy taken on by Aeroflot. "They knew they had a hard task ahead and it wouldn't be a five minute job."
Although Aeroflot couldn't bear to part with the hammer and sickle in its logo, the airline is slowly overcoming its Soviet era bad press. The service improvements, combined with international fares well below Western airlines, are attracting passengers.
Aeroflot's efforts also are driven by newly vigorous competition at home particularly from Sibir, the country's No. 1 domestic carrier.
Sibir came under new ownership amid the 1998 financial crisis and it installed a dynamic young management team at what was essentially the privatised bones of Soviet Aeroflot's Novosibirsk based Siberian wing.
Blessed with lucrative routes at the transport hub of Siberia, and following the acquisition of Vnukovo airlines to get routes to Moscow, Sibir carried 3.5 million passengers of the 30 million that fiew last year. Passenger volumes at Sibir grew more than 25 percent for the first half of this year while the industry as a whole has notched up 15 percent growth almost consistently since 2000.
Like Aeroflot, Sibir is reinventing itself with the help of Western consultants and had planned to unveil a new look for its dowdy fleet in November. One preliminary version envisaged Sibir's simple livery of white with blue stripes replaced by bright lime greens and cherry reds, with silhouettes of vacationers relaxing on the side.
However, those plans were put on hold last week after a Sibir Tu 154 was one of two planes lost in near simultaneous crashes blamed on terrorist bombs.
Investigators say traces of a powerful explosive were found in the wreckage of both planes, and suspicion is growing that two female Chechen suicide bombers one on each aircraft might have brought down the planes.
"We have to do everything we can to help relatives; then we'll think about continuing with the program," said Sibir spokesman Ilya Novakhadsky.
The crash was the second misfortune to hit Sibir in recent years. Three years ago, another of its planes was shot down by a stray Ukrainian missile fired during military exercises, killing all 78 people on board.

However, analysts believe the larger airlines will cope and that passengers will continue flying.
"It will always damage passenger confidence, but a seasonal drop is expected anyway and it won't fall by that much," Duffy, the analyst, said of the probable fallout of last week's crashes.
Of more concern are the prospects for smaller airlines, many of which are under pressure from regional administrations to keep flying even if revenues don't meet their costs. That, some fear, could lead poorer carriers to cut corners on upkeep.
''The issue is maintenance," said Timothy McCutcheon, senior analyst at the Aton investment bank. "Small companies do not have the working capital to keep things running up to snuff."
With no system in place for leasing aircraft and domestic manufacturers struggling themselves new planes are hard to come by.
Earlier this summer, Yury Koptev, a senior official at the Industry and Energy Ministry, warned of a possible erisis in 2006 or 2007 as aircraft become antiquated and intemational noise and emission requirements come into play. About 75 percent of Russian planes *ere inherited from the Soviet Union, Koptev said.
And despite airlines' efforts, Russia's apparent penchant for the unexpected help's undermine the image of the airlines.
Prior to last weeks crashes, the most attention lavished on the country's airlines so far this year had been an onboard brawl: Flight attendants beat up a passenger who had complained that they were drunk.

[sarrebal]

In Origine postato da FlyIce

Moscow based aviation analyst Paul Duffy

LO ABBIAMO BECCATO !!!!!!!!!!

[sarrebal]

In Origine postato da FlyIce
Flight attendants beat up a passenger who had complained that they were drunk.

Questa e' spettacolare!!

[Paul BGY]

Sarre, se ne era parlato anche in questo thread.

http://www.politicaonline.net/forum/...light=ubriachi

E poi c'é qualcuno che si lamenta della scarsa gentilezza di alcuni equipaggi AZ...


Daniele, supera il pregiudizio (??!!) su SU e volaci per il tuo prossimo viaggietto in Cina


Paul