Kuptsov Dmitry Rusaero. VIP terminal: who makes money on business aviation in Vnukovo. Ruin a competitor's business. Forever

We hope we will have air too

On September 9, 2015, in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of August 1, 2015 No. 393 “On the open joint-stock company Vnukovo International Airport”, the Order of the Government of the Russian Federation on measures to determine the size of the shares of the Russian Federation and non-state shareholders in authorized capital of the open joint-stock company "Vnukovo International Airport". We are talking about this, about the development of the airport, about supporting airlines, and much more with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of OJSC "Vnukovo International Airport" Vitaly Vantsev.

Vantsev Vitaly Anatolievich

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vnukovo International Airport OJSC. Born on November 10, 1969 in Khabarovsk. In 1990, after graduating from the Leningrad Higher Military Topographical School, he served in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 1997, he graduated from the Academy of Economics and International Economic Relations. In 2001, he defended his dissertation for the degree of candidate of legal sciences. Works in. civil aviation since 1992 and all these years its activities have been connected with Vnukovo airport. He held various leadership positions at the Vnukovo airport complex. Awarded the “Excellent Worker of Air Transport” badge in 2004 and the “Honorary Transport Worker of Russia” badge in 2005. Married. Has six children.

- Vitaly Anatolyevich, the Presidential order talks about the creation of a single company that will manage the entire Vnukovo airport complex. Please explain how this will be implemented.

This Government order defines only the perimeter of the steps. Based on the order, a Big Four appraiser will be hired. Further, based on the assessment, shares will be distributed between the state and private shareholders of the entire current group of companies. The result of this process will be that there will be one legal entity at Vnukovo Airport. Where we started, we come back to this in more correct commercial civilized conditions.

- What will be the next steps? Is it planned to privatize the state share?

I think that today it is too early to talk about this topic, especially in the current economic situation. First, let's consolidate on the basis of " International airport Vnukovo, and then we will make adjustments depending on the direction in which the market generally moves. The state itself will decide what it will do with its share. It may be interesting for the state to sell its stake and keep it. I think that at the moment it is too early to talk about this, we have already seen many times how at the peak it was stated - “now we are privatizing this”, then “no, we are not privatizing”. Unpredictable for anyone. The state has many options, including entering the securities market, and perhaps this will happen. Let's see.

- Indeed, our state often changes its plans. I remember there was such a story with the supposed merger of Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo under the wing of a single management company.

It was a long time ago. There was an order from the then Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin simply wants to work on the issue of consolidation. This process took about a year and a half, consultants worked who showed that this does not provide synergy, and that market relations will deteriorate. Based on this work, the state decided that there will be no consolidation of the Moscow air hub, but the enterprises themselves must be consolidated - Sheremetyevo separately, Vnukovo separately, and, by the way, Domodedovo separately. As a matter of fact, this is the path we are taking today. You know that a decree on consolidation was also issued for Sheremetyevo. A similar situation occurred in world practice 25 years ago.

- So now the process will go faster? When can we expect the emergence of a single company at Vnukovo?

I think that at Vnukovo it should be in 9-12 months. Such deadlines are necessary to coordinate technical issues.

- Is there a general estimate of the value of all assets that will be included in the new company?

A new assessment will be made. Everything is changing; today it is irrelevant to name the old numbers. Everything is dynamic. This year we have grown by 30% in transportation volumes, and this is also reflected in the value of assets. In the airport business, the more passengers, the greater the capitalization.

- Which airlines generate such a significant increase in volumes?

The main companies that gave us growth are Pobeda and Transaero. They will apparently continue to be growth drivers.

- But today many believe that Transaero airline will be liquidated.

If they wanted to “kill” Transaero, then we had already missed the moment of “killing”. Today, when all decisions have already been made and the company changes owners, this means only one thing - it will definitely fly. He will tell us the strategy for its development within 6 months. new owner. I don’t think we’ll see anything that we ourselves don’t expect. This is not the first time such a story has happened. We have already seen the merger of a number of companies under the auspices of Aeroflot into subsidiaries. Yes, some legal entities no longer exists, but there are directions and passengers, and there are planes. As a matter of fact, I, as the director and co-owner of the airport, am more interested in the number of flights and passengers served at Vnukovo. I think Aeroflot is taking Transaero under its wing for a reason, certainly not in order to destroy it all and give someone else a market share, but precisely in order to consolidate it all within itself. What the consolidation scheme itself will be, I think that today even Aeroflot will not answer this question. Need time.

- There was information that Transaero's routes would be reduced and only about 30% of the fleet would be retained aircraft.

I would not speak so categorically just yet. It happens that a situation happens and everyone starts making loud statements. I have a lot of experience in resolving such situations. If you remember, I was solving the problems associated with the bankruptcy of Air Union, and I want to explain one thing to you: passengers themselves do not go anywhere, they need to be transported. It might shrink. But first, an analysis will be carried out of what Transaero has today: what kind of leasing, what kind of aircraft, on what terms, what kinds of aircraft are contracted with Aeroflot itself. Don’t forget, all airlines have long leases, fresh obligations, planes that are arriving now. Maybe we should get rid of the old ones first, given that new ones are coming. This is about this, not about shortening directions. For what? Look, as soon as you cut here, and the passengers aren’t going anywhere, they need to be transported, which means someone else will definitely do it. For example, our base carrier UTair optimized its route network by 30% last year, but passengers didn’t disappear anywhere, they were simply taken over by other companies. UTair had an inefficient fleet of aircraft, which were once purchased at ineffective rates, so UTair got rid of them. And in some markets, planes and containers were loaded to a greater extent, that’s all. Therefore, there is no need to draw sharp conclusions. I think that today no one at Transaero or Aeroflot will say what they will get rid of at Transaero and what they won’t. I can tell you exactly what they won't get rid of - international destinations. We need to work for them, and they are registered with Transaero under inter-rights agreements. And for Transaero, 50% is domestic traffic, and 50% is international. And she won't go anywhere. Route network, of course, will be reduced partially, but definitely not by 70%. Surely, the fleet can be reduced by 20 percent, they can get rid of some economically ineffective aircraft, taking into account the fact that new ones already contracted by Transaero will be suitable. In any case, this is the best decision that could be made in the current situation. Aeroflot helped everyone out!

- Have you discussed your stake with the new owner of Transaero? What will you do with it?

No, we haven't discussed it yet. Too little time has passed since the decision was made to transfer the company to Aeroflot. I think we'll discuss it next week. My stake is about 4.8%. We will negotiate with the new owners. They will voice the company's development strategy. From this we will base what to do with our package and how we will interact. Lots of options... from selling to keeping it for ourselves.

- Does Transaero have a debt to Vnukovo?

Eat. But the situation is quite working. I am sure that we will find mutual understanding on this matter with the new owners. Moreover, we already have good experience in resolving such issues. For example, we can restructure it. We can consider any options to help the airline fly and operate.

- When UTair had debt problems, it seems you gave them a discount?

The situation with UTair did not develop this way either. UTair's problems began at the end of July 2014. And when we saw the depth of the problems, we discussed and outlined a further strategy. And we gave them a discount only in October. That is, 2 months of negotiations and discussions have passed. I think that the process here is also not fast. Of course, we will meet you halfway. We always do our best to help airlines live and work. This situation will be no exception.

- And how are things going with repaying UTair’s debts?

The situation with UTair is a very good example of strategic cooperation between an airport and an airline in various crisis situations. There were many experts on the market in September last year who shouted about default. No, as of October last year, the airline’s debt to the airport was 900 million rubles, but today it has already been reduced to 700 million, and, I am sure, it will continue to decline. Do not forget what a difficult situation the airline was in, but in addition to current payments (for operating activities), it finds an opportunity to pay off debts. UTair is doing everything possible to cover old debts, and this absolutely suits us. This is definitely better than losing a carrier. And then what to do? Writing off debts during bankruptcy is the worst thing that can happen. Better long-term restructuring, interaction and cooperation.

- So, you have the resources to lend to debtors and live at the same time?

To be honest, there aren’t really any resources. We also manage to do all this with great difficulty. We are trying. In fact, we have done a lot of work to reduce costs. We have talked about this more than once. We built the airport in such a way that our fixed operating costs were minimal. The shareholders once invested really seriously, and this allowed us to save on operating systems today. Vnukovo has good production costs, so the airport today can be so competitive that it can support our airlines by providing preferential rates. Our main task is to give our partners peace of mind to work and develop. And airlines are responding to this - we expect several more carriers to join us.

- What are the expected results for the year in terms of passenger traffic?

We plan to serve about 16 million passengers. Last year - 12.8 million, that is, approximately 30% growth. The modern infrastructure of Vnukovo allows it to grow to 30 million passengers per year. We only have problems with air capacity, but this is a problem for the entire Moscow air hub. The situation is under the control of the Prime Minister. I am sure that it will still be resolved.

- What about the segment? business aviation in connection with current general economic problems? What are the dynamics?

Of course, the dynamics are negative, but not as negative as we predicted in November last year. When we created this year’s budget, we expected a radical reduction in the business aviation segment - from 20 to 35%. But for the year as a whole, we see that there will be a decrease of about 12-15%. Moreover, the main decline occurred at the beginning of the year, and now it is the third quarter, and the situation is slowly leveling out. On the contrary, there is a tendency to increase volumes. Business has adapted to the new situation and is starting to win back. Of course, routes change. If earlier there were more flights to the West, today our network has changed quite seriously - there are more flights to the East, to Central Asia, to the Middle East. For example, there have never been as many flights to the UAE as there are now in this region. Many flights to China. This can be seen not only in business aviation, but also in regular flights. Passenger traffic on the Chinese route to Vnukovo is growing significantly. While overall passenger traffic is falling in many countries, China is one of those markets that is showing growth.

- Do you keep statistics on transit passengers? How technologically ready is the airport for the growth of transit passenger traffic?

We keep these statistics. For example, for the two largest carriers in Vnukovo, UTair and Transaero, the share transit passengers, served at Vnukovo airport, is about 30%. I think there will be more now, because Orenair is also moving towards increasing the share of transit passengers. Technologically, we are ready to provide the possibility of transit in a much shorter time period than what the airlines themselves request. Vnukovo can provide transit in an hour, but since airlines prefer to collect passengers from several flights at once, we can say that, on average, today our transit takes 2-2.5 hours. Have you been to the airport and seen that to switch to international lines from domestic lines, a passenger needs to spend no more than 20 minutes. This includes all the procedures, both in one direction and the other, without going to the common rooms and without receiving your luggage. I’m not afraid to say that we generally have the best transit organized at UIA. And, probably, throughout the country as a whole. Everything is in one place, everything is very convenient. On the one hand, it’s quite local, on the other hand, in a large, comfortable space.

- As the main passenger terminal develops (saturates), will there be any problems with business aviation on the ground?

When we calculate the airport's capacity as a whole, and when I talk about 30 million passengers, we always give these figures taking into account Vnukovo-3. We consider everything as a whole. If we worked only for Vnukovo-1, we could get figures of 45 million. We must understand that 1 flight of an airplane from Vnukovo-3 and Vnukovo-1 is a completely different number of passengers. But airfield operations are the same. It is with this in mind that we leave 10 operations for business aviation every hour. We have potential for growth. At the same time, if in a year or two we come to a concession agreement, we will be able to implement the airfield development project that we have. To date, it has not yet been fully completed, and if there is intensive growth in volumes, we can implement a project for the construction of two additional taxiways, which will further increase the ground capacity.

- Do you mean a concession agreement based on the Pulkovo model?

Yes, Between Russian Federation and chief operator. Only there they got into the concession and the air terminals. And we have already built air terminals. Air terminals will not be included in the concession, only the airfield.

- Is there any construction currently underway on the airfield?

On this moment We have completed our entire construction program. We have a development project, we have all the conclusions of the state examination. Everything is there to continue development. Today there is no such need yet. When we see that we are moving towards the border of 20 million passengers per year, we will begin to gradually complete the construction of the aprons, first of all, and, in the future, two taxiways. Two runways are enough for us, we hope that we will also have air capacity.

R. Gusarov, Yu. Kuzmina

Who is involved in business aviation in Vnukovo

The Vnukovo-3 airport complex, which serves business aviation and VIP charters, was opened in 2004 on the site of the former departmental terminal of Roscosmos. Since 1963, the air terminal of the Energia rocket and space corporation has been located here. In 2004, at the request of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, RSC Energia transferred 4.6 hectares to Vnukovo Airport for the construction of the Vnukovo-3 business aviation zone.

Now Vnukovo-3 includes three business terminals: “Cosmos” and “Vipport”, which can serve about 40 people per hour, and “ABT Vnukovo-3”, serving about 15 people per hour.

The Falcon, which was flown by Total CEO Christophe de Margerie, took off through the most popular terminal at Vnukovo-3, Vipport. The owner of this terminal is a closed joint stock company of the same name with a confusing ownership structure: the company is 50% owned by the Cypriot Cythercorp and Morimoto, whose beneficiary, in turn, is Corwell Finance Limited, registered in the BVI; another 50% is owned by the Rusaero Flight Support Center company, which is controlled by businessman Dmitry Kuptsov (data from SPARK).

These same Cypriot offshore companies control 75% of the ABT Vnukovo-3 terminal. They, according to SPARK, own shares in another three dozen companies that provide various services at Vnukovo airport, among them - Vnukovo Transagency (air ticket offices in the airport building), Aviatechinvest (owns technical structures airfield) and others. Finally, these same two offshore companies own 75.5% of the management company Vnukovo-invest.

The co-owners of Vnukovo-invest are the chairman of the board of directors and co-owner of Vnukovo airport Vitaly Vantsev and billionaire Andrey Skoch. In June 2014, Vnukovo-invest re-elected the board of directors - in addition to Vitaly Vantsev and Skoch’s representative, General Director of the Generation charitable foundation Denis Marusenko, it included Larisa Gitarskaya, project development director of USM Advisors LLC, which manages the assets of Alisher Usmanov, Skoch and their other partners. A USM representative declined to comment. A source close to the company confirmed that Skoch, through his father, is indeed a co-owner of business terminals in Vnukovo. Vantsev declined to comment.

Little is known about the chairman of the board of directors of the RusAero group of companies (it includes the airline of the same name) Dmitry Kuptsov, who owns the second half of Vipport. Previously, Kuptsov was involved in providing business aviation flights to Sheremetyevo, one of the former employees of this airport told RBC, then he transferred his business to Vnukovo. Now it is considered the largest player in the business aviation market, says the CEO of one of the business jet operators. According to him, Kuptsov’s structures provide the same services in St. Petersburg Pulkovo, as well as at the airports of Sochi, Krasnodar, Anapa and Gelendzhik. RBC was unable to contact him.

"Dear guests

Vnukovo is the most popular airport for Russian business. According to statistics from the European Aviation Safety Organization (Eurocontrol, which aggregates data on international flights), in 2013, on average, 30 business aviation flights departed from Vnukovo-3 per day. For comparison: from Sheremetyevo - seven, from Pulkovo - five, from Domodedovo (Domodedovo Business Aviation Center) - about four.

90-110 business jets fly out of four Moscow airports per day (including domestic flights), says the general director of one of the operating companies specializing in private flights. Vnukovo accounts for about 75%, says a colleague from a rival firm. “Nine out of ten of our flights depart from Vnukovo,” says a representative of the Business Aviation company.

Business aviation in Moscow

90-110 business jets take off and land at Moscow airports per day

75% of Moscow business jet departures occur at Vnukovo Airport

8 km is the distance from Moscow to Vnukovo. Proximity to the capital is the main advantage of the airport over Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo

20-30% - this is how much more expensive business terminals in Vnukovo are than in Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo

3 business terminals currently operate in Vnukovo - “Cosmos”, “Vipport” and “ABT Vnukovo -3”

RUB 348 million - revenue from the Vipport business terminal (Vnukovo) in 2013

11.5 million rubles. - net profit of the Vipport business terminal (Vnukovo) in 2013

3 business charter airlines are based in Vnukovo

The services of Vnukovo-3 are used by both the richest Russians and corporations: here, for example, the aircraft of Alisher Usmanov and Rustam Tariko are based, as well as business jets of Rosneft, Gazprom, NOVATEK and Russian Railways. The Abrau-Durso group regularly leases business aviation aircraft based in Vnukovo-3, says company representative Daria Domostroeva. - We rent charters when we have large events in Abrau to which we need to bring big number guests." According to her, this year the company rented a Bombardier aircraft to Severstal Airlines twice.

The popularity of the airport is explained by its proximity to Moscow and Rublevo-Uspenskoye Highway, from where high-profile passengers often arrive. Vnukovo is 8 km from Moscow, Sheremetyevo is 10 km, Domodedovo is 22 km. Only the latter provides departure and arrival of a business jet without reference to time, clarifies a representative of this airport. However, the general director of one of the business aviation companies notes that Domodedovo has never found its regular client due to its distance from the city center. Sheremetyevo is not yet very popular among the business elite, due to a shortage of space: one of Alisher Usmanov’s planes was relocated to Vnukovo, as it interfered with the work of the Sheremetyevo cargo terminal. But the biggest problem is traffic jams (it is difficult to get to the airport due to the fact that Leningradskoe Highway is too busy). Representatives of Sheremetyevo previously said that the airport would be able to regain its position after the first section of the Moscow-St. Petersburg toll highway was built.

Vnukovo is not only the most convenient, but also the most expensive metropolitan airport for business aviation, say employees of operating companies and clients themselves. Service at Vnukovo costs 20% more than at other European airports and Sheremetyevo, and 30% compared to Domodedovo, says the general director of one of the airlines. The cost of a flight from Moscow, for example, to the south of Russia and back for passengers of one business jet with a capacity of up to 50 people is about 1 million rubles, says an employee of one of the companies that frequently flies from Vnukovo.

Who has a share?

How exactly this revenue is divided is difficult to figure out. The cost of servicing a business jet consists of several parts, an employee of one of the brokerage companies that organizes flights for private clients told RBC. The cost structure includes an airport tax, which is calculated from the maximum take-off weight of the aircraft, a navigation fee (about €100), and a fee for providing weather reports (about €50). This money is divided between government agencies.

The bulk of the remaining passenger costs remain with the owners of the VIP terminal. The so-called handling package for one of the most popular liners, Legasy 600, costs €2,800 at Vnukovo, says RBC’s interlocutor. It includes the provision of a tractor, an escort vehicle, technical control on arrival and departure, a room for crew briefing and other services. Cleaning services, provision of ground power supplies, treatment with anti-icing liquid, provision of a hotel for staff and their transfer are paid separately. Using the Vnukovo-3 terminal itself will cost a passenger on such a flight €200.

Another important part of the costs of a business aviation passenger is refueling the aircraft (fuel is mainly supplied by the Vnukovo refueling company; the refueling service itself is provided by the company Vipport or Swissport Russia, which services regular flights at Vnukovo).

The stated price also does not include catering. Passengers can order it both at the airport and in a restaurant. According to one of the operators, catering from the Pushkin restaurant is especially popular. The cost of aircraft parking services per month at Vnukovo airport is €5-6 thousand in an indoor hangar; per day the price tag can reach €1200.

Neither the difference in price nor the tragedy with the plane of the head of Total has yet forced any of Vnukovo-3’s clients to refuse his services (at least there have been no public statements about this). “We will continue to fly from Vnukovo,” says Domostroeva from Abrau-Durso, “we are celebrating the company’s 150th anniversary in 2015, there will be many guests, and we will use their services again.” “In the current situation, Vnukovo will not lose its client, it is a convenient airport, and what happened with the Total president’s plane will not change this,” says Alexander Evdokimov, CEO of Jet Transfer.

Little is known about the chairman of the board of directors of the RusAero group of companies (it includes the airline of the same name) Dmitry Kuptsov, who owns the second half of Vipport. It is considered the largest player in the business aviation market, says the CEO of one of the business jet operators. Kuptsov’s structures provide the same services in St. Petersburg Pulkovo, as well as at the airports of Sochi, Krasnodar, Anapa and Gelendzhik. RBC was unable to contact him.

"Dear guests

Vnukovo is the most popular airport for Russian business. According to statistics from the European Organization for Flight Safety (Eurocontrol, which aggregates data on international flights), in 2013, on average, 30 business aviation flights departed from Vnukovo-3 per day. For comparison: from Sheremetyevo - seven, from Pulkovo - five, from Domodedovo (Domodedovo Business Aviation Center) - about four.

Business aviation in Moscow

90-110 business jets per day take off and land at Moscow airports

75% Moscow business jet departures take place at Vnukovo Airport

8 kilometers - distance from Moscow to Vnukovo. Proximity to the capital is the main advantage of the airport over Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo

20-30% - business terminals in Vnukovo are so much more expensive than in Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo

RUB 348 million - revenue of Vipport CJSC, operator of the international transport business terminal in 2013

11.5 million rubles. - net profit of JSC Vipport in 2013

3 airlines , engaged in business charters, are based in Vnukovo

The services of Vnukovo-3 are used by both the richest Russians and corporations: here, for example, the aircraft of Alisher Usmanov and Rustam Tariko are based, as well as business jets of Rosneft, Gazprom, NOVATEK and Russian Railways. The Abrau-Durso group regularly leases business aviation aircraft based in Vnukovo-3, says company representative Daria Domostroeva. “We rent charters when we have large events in Abrau to which we need to bring a large number of guests.” According to her, this year the company rented a Bombardier aircraft to Severstal Airlines twice.

Who has a share?

Another important part of the cost of a business aviation passenger is refueling the aircraft (fuel is mainly supplied by the Vnukovo refueling company; the refueling service itself is provided by Swissport Russia, which services regular flights to Vnukovo).

Neither the difference in price nor the tragedy with the plane of the head of Total has yet forced any of Vnukovo-3’s clients to refuse his services (at least there have been no public statements about this). “We will continue to fly from Vnukovo,” says Domostroeva from Abrau-Durso, “we will be celebrating the company’s 145th anniversary in 2015, there will be many guests, and we will use their services again.” “In the current situation, Vnukovo will not lose its client, it is a convenient airport, and what happened with the Total president’s plane will not change this,” says Alexander Evdokimov, CEO of Jet Transfer.

A shareholder of a company servicing business jets at Vnukovo is twisting the wings of carriers

Alla Rozova

The Russian air transportation market is undergoing a process of reducing the number of airlines and monopolizing ground services. From 2003 to 2012, the number of chairs on display Russian airlines on the market, more than doubled - from 41.4 million to 95.5 million units, and the number of Russian air carriers operating commercial flights from 2003 to 2010 decreased from 232 to 151 companies. These figures were presented at the 10th Wings of Russia forum by the head of the Air Transport Operators Association, Evgeny Chibirev. The aviation authority canceled a further 44 air operator certificates in 2011–12.

Ruin a competitor's business. Forever

While the number of airline planes in the air still suggests competition for passengers, on the ground monopolization is proceeding at a much faster pace. Airports are transferred into private hands, and their owners are usually already the owners of service companies, creating their own airlines and business aviation operating companies. As a result, preferential conditions are created for “our” flights, and third-party companies are squeezed out of business. Airplanes of “foreign” companies, for example, may not be provided with the requested take-off and landing time, may be forced to spend an extra half hour hanging out in the sky, wasting fuel, may indecently delay the time between flights for servicing the aircraft, or even directly prevent competitors from operating “profitable” flights. . There are many different ways to ruin business for a competing airline, causing the only operators at the airport to price their services out of the blue. Accordingly, prices for airport services in Moscow are three to four times higher than in Europe. This is especially true for business aviation.

The situation became so flagrant that the International Olympic Committee at the end of last year, having visited Sochi, was forced to draw the government’s attention to the creation of Russian airports, the most popular for business aviation, are monopoly schemes, as a result of which service fees increase tenfold. The impunity of monopolies in Russia leads to completely wild cases of infringement of the interests of passengers.

The most famous case was at the Sochi airport in August 2011, when the head of the Russian Space Agency Vladimir Popovkin, due to sabotage by the ex-CEO of Basel Aero (the company servicing the Sochi airport) Sergei Likharev, was forced to climb onto the plane on a stepladder, and then for an hour and a half wait for takeoff. Even the VIP passenger level did not scare the monopolists! Popovkin was only helped by a call to his manager Federal agency air transport.

The entire Russian business aviation operator market is 90% owned by two companies - Rusaero and Aerotrans, and at each airport the aircraft are guarded by their own servicing monopolist (handling company). In April 2011, at the request of the business aviation operator Streamline OPS CJSC, an antimonopoly case was initiated against Omsk Airport OJSC, which gave the monopoly right to service business aviation to OJSC Center for Production and Dispatch Services for Civil Aviation Aerotrans (against Aerotrans » antitrust proceedings were also ongoing).

Streamline encountered resistance to servicing its flights not only in Omsk, but also in other cities of Russia (according to Streamline OPS CJSC, monopolization of business aviation ground handling services takes place in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Krasnodar, Anapa, Gelendzhik). Even earlier, business aviation operator EastUnion was squeezed out of the market.

The government is currently discussing a scheme for reforming the Moscow Aviation Hub (MAH) through the possible merger of Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo airports. Experts are discussing all the details of the scheme, except for the issue of ground handling monopoly. In the new company, the private owners of Vnukovo Airport can receive up to 40% of the shares, which will actually allow them to control two airports and apply in them the scheme for extracting monopoly profits that has already been worked out at Vnukovo.

How to squeeze by pinching

At Vnukovo, business jets are serviced by a monopolist, the Vipport company, whose owners are the main private shareholder of the entire airport, Vitaly Vantsev (51%) and Dmitry Kuptsov (49%). The latter is the main shareholder (58%) in the business aviation operator Rusaero, which operates in Moscow and many regional airports. Kuptsov’s structures forced all other business aviation operators out of Vnukovo, forcing airlines to switch to them for service through not very clean methods. There are enough ways to do this. You can force passengers from “competitors” to wait for several hours to receive an already arriving aircraft, citing the lack of ramps. You can “bet the company on money”: the cost of temporary parking in the port has long exceeded the limits of reason, and if an empty ship wants to fly away, the special price for it is 3,000 euros, which is simply impossible in any other port in the world. You can twist the client’s arms by trading slots (arrival and departure time periods) - offering the best and most convenient time to your own and refusing to accept boarding at the requested time to “strangers”. At the same time, the operator himself does not have the ability to manipulate time; this activity is under the jurisdiction of the airport itself. But having the owner of Vnukovo as a shareholder, this is not difficult for Vipport. Recently, more and more often, airlines that are annoyed by the non-market operating conditions at VNK-3 and who have a desire to change their service operator are threatened with serious problems, not only at VNK-3, but also at other airports where an offshore business operating scheme has been implemented. structures of Dmitry Kuptsov.

Three days ago, a letter appeared in the press from the head of the Belgian company Beaumont Air SA, who appealed to the Transport Prosecutor's Office of Russia with a request to deal with “unprecedented facts of corruption on the part of a number of Russian services and companies at Vnukovo airport." In the letter, the director lists how his company’s board encountered attempts to extort bribes for slots. Upon arrival, they “tried in every possible way to disrupt the flight: they delayed the disembarkation of passengers and the delivery of ramps, although, according to airport workers, there were no technical reasons for this.” “At each stage of servicing our flight, we were hinted that for high-quality and timely preparation of the business jet, we need to pay something extra.” In conclusion, the companies tried to impose the services of the handling agent RusAero. The letter states that “this is not an isolated case of threats, deliberate flight disruptions and imposition of non-market prices, but a fairly well-functioning corrupt system of work of the Russian operator at Vnukovo-3.”

Due to its proximity to Moscow, Vnukovo’s popularity among business jet passengers allows Vipport to hold a monopoly high prices to virtual Additional services ground handling - twice the prices of Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo (5,000 euros versus 2,800 euros). At the same time, all operational activities of Kuptsov’s companies in Russia are carried out through RusAero, and financial flows go through the offshore company Shennon Air. The client, when negotiating with RusAero, receives invoices from Shennon Air and this does not surprise anyone, because... Almost all business aviation (99%) is located abroad - it is not profitable to conduct this business in Russia. At the same time, all serious people, incl. government officials, using business transportation, pour budget money into the “golden stream”, flowing into the pockets of one person, Dmitry Kuptsov. The state annually loses hundreds of millions of rubles in taxes, and Vipport annually shows profits or losses close to zero.

What will the main owners choose?

Kuptsov’s activities to make a profit from the Vnukovo business terminal could continue further, but it seems that now the shareholders are faced with a situation where they have to choose. Vitaly Vantsev’s position is to expand regular flights, receiving significantly more money. Kuptsov’s position is to continue to infringe on the interests of the main flow of passengers in favor of business transportation. Vantsev has apparently made up his mind. In an interview with Prime on December 18, he said that the airport has exhausted its potential for business aviation growth. “I said that there is no growth potential for business aviation in Vnukovo. All the hangars and aprons are packed, if business aviation is going to grow, then we thought it was right for it to grow in Kubinka,” he said.

Even earlier, Vantsev spoke about plans to increase the flow of ordinary passengers to Vnukovo by 50% in 2013 by reducing business flights, which are allegedly going to be transferred to Kubinka airport. True, Kubinka will start working no earlier than 2014, so for now Kuptsov is guaranteed offshore excess profits, but then Rusaero will have to make room. Regular flights provide significantly more service revenue than operating a business terminal. What the Moscow government - the main owner of the airport - will choose is obvious, especially considering the position of the non-main owner.

CLOSED JOINT STOCK COMPANY "CAPITAL JET", Khimki, Moscow region

Main activity according to OKVED code:

. Activities of air transport not subject to a schedule;

Additional activities of the company:

. Rental of air transport with crew;
. Activities of travel agencies;
. Other ratailing;
. Organization of cargo transportation;
. Transport cargo handling;
. Development software and consulting in this area;
. Aircraft ground handling activities;
. Terminal activities ( bus stations and so on.);
. Providing repair, maintenance and alteration services aircraft and aircraft engines;

All-Russian classifier of products by type of economic activity:

. Rental services for cargo helicopters with crew;
. Services by freight transportation by air, not subject to a schedule (irregular);
. Services for passenger tourist transportation by aircraft not subject to a schedule;
. Services for the transportation of mail by air transport that is not subject to a schedule;
. Services for the transportation of mail by air transport not subject to a schedule, on international lines;
. Services for passenger tourist transportation by helicopters not subject to a schedule;
. Services by passenger transportation by air charter flights not following a schedule;
. Services for the transportation of other cargo by air transport that is not subject to a schedule;

It might be useful to read: