AVIACENTER NEWS

During three days, 12 business events were held involving airlines, airports, tour operators from Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, North and South Americas and other regions of the world, federal and regional authorities responsible for the issues of development of aviation transport complex, outbound and inbound tourism. More than 400 delegates attended the three days of NETWORK and NETWORK CARGO Forums. 
The key event of the NETWORK Forum were networking sessions. Every participant was able to hold an unlimited number of business meetings after planning them in the specialized automated meeting scheduling system at www.eurasian.network.
The result of the successful negotiations will be new passenger routes in the airports of Eurasian region.
Apart from the business meeting sessions, the NETWORK Forum agenda included the following events:

-    IX Civil Aviation Strategy Forum: the major professional venue to discuss key trends in the development of the industry of passenger and cargo transportation, tourism, new paradigms of interaction between the market participants, changes in the regulations of aviation activities, forecasts of Russian and international experts on the development of global and regional markets.
-    IV International Conference ‘Airline Marketing and Commerce’ – the key international venue to discuss issues of consumer demand recovery and sales promotion, optimization of costs of marketing and distribution, search for new sources of income, novelties in the sphere of international IT solutions to recover customers’ trust to air travel.
-    V International Conference ‘Airport Marketing and Commerce’ – Eurasian region major professional event, this year dedicated to issues of route network recovery and incentive programs for airlines, optimization of operational processes in the new conditions, and issues of development of non-aeronautical activities of airports as a source of recovery of lost profits.
-    XI International Conference ‘Regional Aviation of Russia and CIS 2021’ – the largest annual event in Russia and the CIS for discussion of the key issues of development of regional and commuter aviation on the level of the state and the business.
-    IX International Conference ‘Airports Development 2021’ – the key professional event discussing, on the level of the state and the business, the major issues of financing the development of regional airports, promotion of investments in the airport infrastructure, and implementation of public-private partnership (PPP) projects.
-    Practical workshops for airports and airlines delivered by leading international experts of Aviacenter.
-    Eurasian Aviation Marketing Award Ceremony – a grand event of awarding the best airlines and airports showing the highest results in the organization of commercial activities in 2020.
-    Eurasian Regional Aviation Award Ceremony – a grand event of awarding the best airlines, airports, and aviation industry companies for their excellence in the sphere of regional aviation.
-    Other important business events.

Daulet Khamzin, First Deputy Chairman of the Board, Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport:
— We came to the Forum with the goal of presenting the capabilities of our airport and to learn about the new trends on the international market. First, I saw that the problems faced by the airports in Russia and Kazakhstan are very similar: implementation of public-private partnership projects, and financing. In hope we shall be able to put into practice the ideas and solutions that we found here on the forum. It is very important that the NETWORK CARGO is held at the same time with the passenger route development forum NETWORK. Live communication with partners always has a greater effect. 
Daulet Arinuli, Air Astana, said that the pandemic greatly affected the passenger transportation as well as logistics globally. From April to May 14, 2020, the company fully suspended its services, and this was the most difficult period. However, recovery of domestic flights helped the process of adaptation to the new reality. The company started working with different countries and started opening new routes, e.g. Maldives or Montenegro. Now Air Astana is coping with the consequences and doing holistic work with government is different countries and with the market.
The speaker added, “The Forum touched upon interesting trends in the cargo and passenger transportation and provided some forecasts as to recovery of the industry. I wish all participants of the forum full booking on their flights and successful overcoming of the pandemic!”
Dmitry Gorin, Vice President, Association of Tour Operators of Russia:
— The NETWORK Forum is the venue where agents, airlines, global distribution systems meet and engage in an interesting dialog. The industry is recovering, and we see a light in the end of the tunnel. I wish the Forum organizers to keep up their difficult work in these uneasy times. The presence of such important market players on the NETWORK Forum is a proof that the right solutions and the right approach were taken.
Vladimir Kocheganov, Director for Aviation Commerce Development, Simferopol International Airport:
— This forum is of much interest to us because it gathers the key players in the industry, representatives of airlines, airports and organizations supporting the air transportation process. To all the forum participants I wish to find companies and build partnerships. I also would like to express my gratitude to the Forum organizers for their appreciation of the work of the Simferopol Airport within the Eurasian Aviation Marketing Award.
Vladimir Kalyapin, Director for IT Service Project Implementation, Sirena Travel:
— I would like to thank Aviacenter for holding the NETWORK forum offline, and we had the opportunity to meet, to talk, to shake hands with our partners. This is something that a picture on the screen will never replace. I express my gratitude to the forum committee for the high level of organization, and we are ready to take part in the following events of Aviacenter, to share new ideas and to share our proposals with other participating companies on how to improve the business.
Gleb Golovchenko, Managine Director, RIVC-Pulkovo:
— Many participants are thankful for the opportunity of coming to talk to colleagues and listen to interesting presentations. The NETWORK forum is a large-scale industry-level event that brings together all stakeholders giving a unique opportunity of live communication with almost all colleagues from the trade.

Simultaneously with the Passenger Route Development Forum NETWORK, the III International NETWORK CARGO Forum took place.  
It involved the key players of the air cargo transportation of Eurasia and other regions of the world: representatives of cargo airlines, airports, transport logistic hubs, express carriers, forwarding companies and solution providers, as well as leaders in manufacturing of unmanned cargo system. 
One of the key events of the NETWORK CARGO was the Air Cargo Strategy Forum focusing on modern trends in the sphere of development of cargo transportation. 
Aside from the Air Cargo Strategy Forum, the agenda included several round table meetings that addresses practical cases implemented in the largest cargo air companies of Europe, Asia, and North America. The agenda of the forum included discussions of approximately 100 vital topics related to development of the cargo transportation market.
The delegates of NETWORK CARGO were most actively engaged in the business meetings.
Georgy Bautin, Director, Department of Air Transport Department, Russian Post:
— We all surely missed the live person-to-person communication, and I am grateful to the organizers for the opportunity of meeting the market professionals. Crises come and go, all of them, but the systemic work is here to stay. All participants of the market need to focus not only on the present moment, but on what is about to come. Russia is a great country, a country of opportunities, and a country of distances. The participants of the Forum are directly engaged in the transportation process. 
Elena Konkina, Deputy General Director - Sales Director, Moscow Cargo:
— NETWORK CARGO is the event that people are willing to participate! This is the merit of the organizers and their attention to details. I should mention the intensive business agenda and the high level of professional preparation of materials. What we heard was interesting and made us want to share our experience. 
Vitaly Andreev, General Director, Atran Airline:
— It must be mentioned that from the standpoint of aviation the NETWORK CARGO Forum is one of the most important events of the year, especially that it was offline, when you could talk to colleagues and share all your emotions. Without doubt, it is an important event in the world of aviation. We will be glad to participate in it in the future.

On the IX International Conference “Airport Development 2021” within the agenda of the NETWORK Forum, the delegates discussed the trends of financing of airport infrastructure in the new conditions. In particular, Denis Nozdrachev, representative of “InfraVEB”, reported on the challenges faced by the investor community in terms of development of airport infrastructure in the conditions when the financing allocated within the state support programs for the construction of aerodromes is sufficient only for one third of airports. The speaker also looked into the main legal schemes of execution of PPP projects and specific features of their implementation.

The conference “Airport Development 2021” presented the new project of construction of the modern passenger terminal of the Gelendzhik Airport implemented by “VTB Infrastructural Holding”. The new air terminal will have modern unmatched architecture and some unique engineering solutions.

The Director of Transport Strategy Center Consortium Anton Koren made a report on the international practice of financing the airport infrastructure and focused on the possible additional sources of financing. Once again, the delegates raised and discussed such important topics as creation of a fund whose revenues would be financed from fees paid by the users of aeronautical infrastructure. The speaker made a detailed insight into the proposed solution and principles of application of infrastructural fees with consideration of successful experience of developed countries.
On a special note, Anton Koren presented some cases of development of international airports that used the Aerotropolis & Airport City planning approaches, looked into some of the largest European and Eurasian projects, and practical cases of aerotropolis planning from the Aviacenter experience.

Jacques Follain, a member of the Coordinating Committee of World Association of PPP Units & Professionals (WAPPP, Switzerland) presented a report on the international trends of development of PPP projects of airports in the post-COVID crisis period. The coronavirus phase witnessed a decline in the number of PPP deals. Some projects were initiated and brought to a successful conclusion, e.g. in Brazil, where 22 airports (mainly domestic) were put on an auction. Many planned projects were suspended due to the uncertainty in the aviation industry. In the summer, the inbound and regional traffic in some cases reached above 80% from the values of the year 2019. Recovery of international air transportation might require more time, supposedly until 2024 or even 2025, due to absence of bilateral agreements on protection against COVID. The speaker noted that PPP projects in the airport sphere remain in many countries the safe alternative to the development of airport infrastructure by way of transfer of risks and financial restrictions to the private sector.

Yetkin Paker, Deputy General; Director of the TAV airport holding (Turkey), spoke about the investment project of development of the Almaty airport that is currently underway. The new Asian hub is to have a development stimulus: the plans stipulate surpassing the record-making volumes of 90,000 tons of cargo in 2022. The passenger throughput in 2022 is to exceed the figures of 2019 by the development of domestic flights. The expected passenger traffic on inbound flights will increase by 37% vs. 2019, and by 63% on international flights. In total, in 2022, Kazakhstan in planning to increase its share on the market of cargo transportation in Central Asia by 30-35% thanks to multimodal traffic in transit. The project of development of the Almaty international airport supposes a throughput of 6 million passengers per year, a passenger and VIP terminals with a total area of 57,000 square meters.

Other international speakers made presentations. The discussion involved representatives of managing companies and investment groups and associations from Europe, Asia, Middle East, and North America.

During the conference “Airport Development 2021”, the Transport Strategy Center Consortium (TSC) delivered practical workshops on the design of effective PPP projects of airports, state-of-the-art instruments of effective planning of PPP projects with respect to their technical, legal and financial design.

This year, the Forum also hosted the XI International Conference “Regional Aviation of Russian and CIS - 2021”, where the leading experts exchanged experience and ideas of development of regional air traffic.

Alexandra Sedova, representative of the Analytical Center for the Government of the Russian Federation, emphasized the social function of aviation in linking hard-to-reach regions. Her report also addressed such important questions as the absence of a single federal center responsible for the development of regional and commuter flights, and the problem of excessive requirements for the certification of regional airports.

Pawel Skuteli of Embraer (Brazil) delivered a report on the status and prospects of development of the regional aviation market in Russia and the CIS and made it a point that this market is one of the fastest growing in the world. The number of regional airports capable of receiving and servicing regional aircraft has doubled over the past 20 years. However, despite improvement of infrastructure, many regions remain insufficiently connected. He mentioned a large unused potential in the densely populated regions. At present, the Russian market of internal flights is larger than that of European countries. Strong internal markets are known, from the experience of overcoming past crisis periods, to mitigate the total impact of crises in the aviation industry.

In her report, Anastasia Visnakova (De Haviland Canada) reported a success of overcoming the crisis in aviation using the example of the twin-engine short-haul turboprop Bombardier Dash-8 plane. Anastasia noted that the commuter and regional markets keep taking the lead in the recovery of aviation industry. As of today, in Russia the total number of flights operated by turboprops has returned to the level of 2019.

Christian A. Klein, Executive Vice President, Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA, USA) made a report on the global market of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) in the new conditions and said that from January to September 2020 the business activity in the MRO sector dropped by 50%. In 2020, global expenditure on MRO was USD 50.3 Billion (vs. USD 91.2 Billion in the forecast). In 2021 in Europe, the total number of flight hours is reaching 80% that of the 2019 level. The speaker also mentioned the lack of staffing in the aviation industry after the pandemic.

Important issues of development of small airports were also brought to attention. In particular, General Director of Airports of Krasnoyarsk FFE (FKP) Yulia Logacheva noted, “In the recent years, we faced some challenges due to the limited amount of passenger transportation. To level out the expenditure, we had to save on our procurement. By participating in electronic bidding, our company saved 30% of total budget, and the money was redistributed to compensate for the expenses of the pandemic period. We cut down on the expenses related to energy supply and opened our own boiler stations in the Arctic and in the Extreme North. We engaged a lot of investors who helped us in the projects of restoring the airport infrastructure”.

There were other reports on strategic aspects of development of regional flights and system-level tasks of their development.

The reports and recommendations of the round table “Development of flight information service network and integration of unmanned aircraft in the common aviation area” were of special interest for the speakers.

Leonid Scherbakov, Head of ATC Committee of Association of Air Transport Operators (AEVT) , made a review of international practice of flight information service networks (FIS). He mentioned the experience of FIS prevalent in approximately 70 countries. There is experience of using FIS in the Russian Federation. At the same time, the technical regulatory and legal acts of the Russian Federation have no set criteria as to what flying intensity should give preference to flight information services.

When addressing the digital platforms of flight planning and operation, the participants of the round table used the practical cases and came to a unanimous opinion that there is an efficient Russian solution of FIS based on the flyrf.ru platform. It is implemented and working, it is aimed at proactive forecasting of hazardous situations and notification of airlines’ flight operation offices, flight dispatchers and other services engaged in flight performance. The delegates also agreed that the system is a most promising advanced development created in Russia.

The participants of the round table also resolved that a coherent approach towards flight information service in the Russian Federation would assist the implementation of the national task of recovery and development of regional and commuter flights.

The agenda also included a strategic session on the development of regional flights and development of proposals for the improvement of normative and legal framework. Konstantin Grebeshok, Director of Department of Road Infrastructure and Transport of Khanty-Mansy Autonomous District – Yugra, noted that in the absence of domestically produced aircraft of specific capacity, and with the impossibility of using the obsolete Russian aircraft the programs of subsidizing are designed in such a way that financing of shortfalls in revenue of airlines – and, in essence, opening of new destinations, - results in weak transport accessibility of remote regions. The delegates deemed the problem important and needing solution as it results in an insufficient meeting of demand of air transportation for the population and industries of remote regions.

The conference paid special attention to the problem of understaffing for regional and commuter airlines. Aviation experts noted that the national educational institutions are losing the pilot training market to other countries. Some options were proposed for the reformation of the national system of pilot training with respect to the best international practices.

The NETWORK Forum also included several restricted access meetings and events, among them a working meeting of Russian organizations with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), where the specialists of Boeing, Airbus, General Electriс, Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney and others, and, from the Russian side, major research institutions, operators and vertically integrated oil companies discussed the effective standards in the aviation industry. Resolutions were made on directions of cooperation and regular exchange of experience. Specifically, it was decided to carry on the discussion on the annual conference of the aviation fuel supply professionals “Aviation Fuel - 2022” in Moscow on February 8-9, 2022. 

Anton Koren, Director of Transport Strategy Center Consortium: “The NETWORK Forum remains a key communications venue of the aviation industry of the Eurasian region. The networking sessions of the 2021 Forum traditionally had a lot of pre-planned business meetings between airports and airlines on opening new routes. This year, the geography of the Forum participants expanded significantly. Thanks to the hybrid format, the forum was able to accommodate representatives of aviation industry practically from all regions of the world. The business agenda covered the most vital issues, and the proposals of the Forum were of interest to the representatives of national government agencies, and, considering the similarity of challenges and problems of development of civil aviation in the countries of the Eurasian region, to the EEC, representatives of the EAEU and the CIS countries. The Forum’s proposals and recommendations will be passed on to the federal government agencies”.

In addition to the business agenda of the Forum there were organized an aviation concert and unique excursions around Moscow for delegates.

Also there were some additional unofficial events during which the delegates had a chance to discuss cooperation including opening of new routes.

The Center for Strategic Development in Civil Aviation (AVIACENTER) is the first independent consulting center in Russia, in the Eurasian Union and the CIS countries, the product line of which includes over 100 kinds of professional services in the field of strategic planning, management and investment consulting in aviation and aircraft industries.

Consortium of the AVIACENTER and The Transport Strategy Center (TSC) are ranked by RAEX among TOP-10 consulting groups in the field of strategic planning and organizational development in 2020, being No.1 in aviation & transport consulting in this rating.

Under management or with participation of the AVIACENTER, more than 350 strategic projects have been implemented for airlines, airports, aircraft-industry holdings and other industry enterprises. For more information, please visit en.aviacenter.org.

Also, the AVIACENTER is one of the world’s largest professional aviation events providers, holding up to 20 annual international aviation and transport forums and conferences yearly.