Tag Archives: aviation

Azerbaijani airline orders Boeings

MARCH 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Baku-based freight carrier Silk Road West has ordered three Boeing 747-8 cargo planes for a reported $1.1b, Boeing said in a statement. The deal is a major one for Boeing and shows Silk Road West’s confidence.
-ENDS-

(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)

Air Astana faces a difficult year, says CEO

JAN. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Air Astana CEO Peter Foster
said 2015 would be a tough year because of economic and political
turmoil across the region. His comments highlight the uncertainty
that businesses are facing. Last year, Air Astana increased its
passenger traffic by 3%. Profit rose by 35% from 2013, mainly
because of a drop in oil price.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 215, published on Jan. 21 2015)

Air Armenia to restart operations in March

JAN. 5 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — Air Armenia, which suspended its international flights in October after declaring itself bankrupt, will re-start operations in March after agreeing a deal to sell 49% of the company to a Ukrainian company called East Prospect Fund, media reported. The news is important for Armenia’s travel links to Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)

Uzbekistan sells aircraft

DEC. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – As part of its modernisation scheme, Uzbekistan Airways has said it wants to sell three Airbus A-310 and three BAE Systems RJ-85 passenger aircrafts, media reported. The combined sale is worth nearly $50m. Uzbekistan Airways has been looking to upgrade its fleet throughout the year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)

Armenian airline cancels flights

OCT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Air Armenia, the only Armenian-owned passenger airline, suspended all passenger flights until at least Dec. 20 because of financial problems.

Privately owned, Air Armenia has been flying to Russia and a handful of other destinations for a year. It was set up as a freight airline in 2003 but branched into passenger flights after the collapse of Armavia in 2013.

Air Armenia’s financial problems highlight just how difficult the business environment in Armenia is currently.

Armenia has been hard hit by the financial problems facing Russia, its main ally and sponsor. Remittances from workers in Russia have dried up as has financial support and investment. Economic growth rates have been slashed, currency warnings have been put out and inflation is creeping up. These are difficult times for Armenian businesses, more so in the aviation sector.

It looks increasingly likely that Armenians will now be without a national airline.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 207, published on Nov. 5 2014)

Armenia denies Crimea flight

OCT. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia has denied that it has given permission for a commercial flight between Yerevan and Simferopol, the capital of Crimea.

As reported by the Bulletin last week, Grozny Avia, a Chechen airline, has floated plans to fly between the two cities twice a week. If the flight route did materialise it would be the first air route into Crimea, other than from Russia, since Russian forces annexed the Ukrainian province earlier this year.

News of the planned flight angered the Ukrainian government. It has also been suggested that Armenia had been coaxed into allowing the flight to appease Russia. Armenia needs Russian economic support to keep its finances in order and Russian military support to balance the threat posed by Azerbaijan which wants to re-take the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia-back rebels.

But Armenia’s civil aviation authority has said that an earlier statement from Crimea’s transport minister about the planned flight was simply wrong.

“The Head Department of Civil Aviation did not receive, and therefore has not examine, a bid for operation of direct flights from Yerevan to Simferopol,” media quoted spokesman Ruben Grdzelyan as saying.

This is not a categorical no, then. It does suggest that this issue may have further to run.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 206, published on Oct. 29 2014)

Crimea-Armenia air route opens

OCT. 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A direct air route is opening up between Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, and Yerevan, making Armenia the only country other than Russia since the Kremlin annexed the Ukrainian region earlier this year to set up a connection.

Media reported that the airline, Grozny Avia would run the once-a-week flight from Simferopol from Nov. 16.

Perhaps this is the price that Armenia has to pay for Russian economic and military support. The West has levied sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Crimea. Russia has said that Crimea voted to join Russia in an independence referendum and that its actions were legitimate.

And what it craves is international recognition. Russia has had the same problem with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, rebel Georgian states whose independence it has recognised to the chagrin of most the international community.

The only countries which have followed Russia’s lead are small countries from Central America to the Pacific Ocean looking for economic support.

Armenia may be falling into that category over Crimea. It will join the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union in 2015 and looks to Russian forces in Armenia to act as a counterbalance for any Azerbaijani aggression over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Grozny Avia likely to be linked to Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-supported leader of Chechnya, provides another link between Russia and its semi-vassal states.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)

Air Armenia denied bankruptcy

OCT. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Air Armenia has denied rumours that it is facing bankruptcy, media reported. Instead, Air Armenia explained a handful of recent flight cancellations as being linked to technical problems with the aircraft. Air Armenia is a privately owned company mainly flying to Russia. It only started passenger flights last year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)

New Russian route for Tajik migrants

SEPT. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Asian Express Airline, a private airline, will fly two return flights next month to the city of Barnaul in Russia’s Siberia from Dushanbe for migrant Tajik workers, media reported. The new route shows the economic power and importance of remittances from migrant workers to the Tajik economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)

Kazakhstan’s Bek Air buys 7 Russian planes

JULY 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – So, is this the price of membership of the Russia-led Customs Union? Kazakhstan’s Bek Air has agreed to buy seven Sukhoi Superjet 100-95s for an undisclosed amount.

The Sukhoi Superjet 100-95s were unveiled to much fanfare in 2008 but sales have been sluggish and the reviews less than flattering.

In 2012, Armenian airline Armavia returned its Sukhoi Superjet after a year of flying it between Yerevan and Kiev because it was deemed to be sub-standard.

A few months earlier, in May 2012, a Superjet 100 had crashed into mountains in Indonesia during a demonstration flight killing all 45 people on board. Pilot error was declared the cause of the accident.

The Sukhoi Superjet-100 is the first passenger plane to be manufactured by Russia since the end of the Soviet Union. It is designed for medium and short-haul flights and has a capacity of between 86 and 108 passengers, depending on how the seating is arranged, and retails for around $35m per plane.

Bek Air is an almost perfect client for Sukhoi, which is a majority Russian state-owned company. Bek Air flies internal routes across Kazakhstan between Almaty, Astana, Uralsk and Atyrau.

Importantly Bek Air is also Kazakh. Kazakhstan is a junior member of the Customs Union, soon to morph into the Eurasian Economic Union, and will be under pressure to buy kit from Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 193, published on July 30 2014)