AVIACENTER NEWS

The largest international conference on regional air transport development “Regional Aviation of Russia and CIS – 2013” completed in Moscow.

The conference has once again confirmed its status of the main professional industry event in Russia and CIS, where the key issues of developing regional and commuter air transport are discussed on the level of public authorities and businesses.

Vyacheslav Shtyrov, Deputy Chairman of the Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly (Parliament) of the Russian Federation mentioned in his welcome address for the conference participants, that “developing regional aviation is one of the strategic priorities of state policy regarding civil aviation. The important tasks at this stage of regional air transport development are: to establish conditions for lowering the costs of regional air transport and airport activity, to build effective mechanisms of state support for socially and economically significant routes”.

Vyacheslav Shtyrov also said in the welcome address, that “An important direction in rule-making regarding developing aviation throughout the country is a complex of legal enactments that must determine:

-  the terms of developing the Far East and the Baikal region of the Russian Federation;

- rational requirements for the infrastructure of regional and commuter airports, eliminating excessive requirements to the infrastructure and decreasing the financial burden both on airports and on airlines, the airport service users;

- legislative environment for low-cost air carriers operations, in order to create an opportunity for this popular world business-model to function effectively in Russia. Solving these and many other issues of providing regulatory support to civil aviation must increase the affordability of aviation for people and industries”.

The event plenary session was attended by Valery Okulov, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, Alexander Neradko, Head of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia), Erkin Isakov, Director of the Civil Aviation Agency of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Kyrgyz Republic, Sergey Fominykh, Deputy Director of the Aviation Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, Alexey Fedorov, Managing Director, Aviation Projects, Rostec State Corporation, Anton Koren, CEO, The Center for Strategic Development in Civil Aviation (AVIACENTER) and many others.  

The heads of regional and trunk airlines, manufacturers and suppliers of regional aircraft from Russia, CIS countries, Europe, Asia, North and South America, regional airports and airport groups, heads of the subordinate entities of the Russian Federation, heads and experts of relevant regional ministries and agencies, providers of innovative solutions and aviation products, financial institutions, international and Russian associations, media representatives all took part in the event.

The following topics were discussed at the conference:

- outcome of regional aviation government support measures;

- prospects of developing current regional aviation subsidy programs;

- burning issues of regional aircraft leasing;

- lessons learned by the regional airline representatives, problems and problem-solving proposals;

- projects of manufacturing regional aircraft in Russia within Special Economic Zones;

- modern helicopters for regional aviation;

- using unmanned aircraft to solve regional tasks;

- organizing MRO centers for foreign aircraft;

- modern interaction model for air transport market participants as part of implementing the IATA SIS initiative and many others.

The heads of Russian air transport industry, who spoke at the plenary session: Valery Okulov, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation and Alexander Neradko, Head of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia), informed the conference participants about the outcome of the measures taken by the government to support regional aviation, about the prospects of developing current subsidy programs.

Erkin Isakov, Director of the Civil Aviation Agency of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Kyrgyz Republic, presented an evaluation of the current status of Kyrgyz civil aviation.

The measures taken by the industry in order to provide manufacturing aircraft for regional and general purpose aviation in Russia, were presented by Sergey Fominykh, Deputy Director of the Aviation Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, and Alexey Fedorov, Managing Director, Aviation Projects, Rostec State Corporation.

During the session, devoted to developing regional air transport, “Yakutia” and “RusLine” regional airlines, “Belgorod” airport, Aviasoyuz association were presented. The representatives of these organizations delivered speeches, summing up their work experience, identifying problems and problem-solving proposals to be included in the conference outcome document.

During the first day of the conference, a roundtable discussion took place, devoted to burning issues of regional aircraft leasing. Representatives of such companies as the State Transport Leasing Company, Sberbank Leasing, VEB-Leasing, Siberian Leasing Company, Otrkrytaya Leasing Company and other leading market participants took part in the discussion.

As part of the “Aircraft for regional aviation” session the main manufacturers of regional aircraft were introduced: ANTONOV Company, Cessna Aircraft, ATR, Aircraft Industries, as well as specific aircraft types that are acknowledged on regional and commuter routes all over the world: DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 400, Cessna 208 Grand Caravan, L410 UVP–Е20 and others.

During the session the projects of manufacturing regional aircraft in Russia within Special Economic Zones, the prospects of developing aircraft for commuter and regional airlines, using unmanned aircraft to solve regional tasks were also discussed.

Modern helicopters for regional aviation were presented at the conference both by a speaker from the “Russian Helicopters” group and by the representatives of the leading foreign manufacturers: Bell Helicopter and AgustaWestland.

During the second day of the conference the leading international and Russian professional experts conducted a workshop and a master-class “Current approaches to developing regional air transport”, presented by the Center for Strategic Development in Civil Aviation (AVIACENTER) and InterVistas.

The conference was closed by a special session, devoted to modern technologies and solutions for regional aviation, during which the participants discussed organizing MRO centers for foreign aircraft and the modern logistics model of financial interaction between aviation market participants as part of implementing the IATA SIS initiative.

During the conference, the International Airport Association and Aviasoyuz Regional and General Aviation Association solemnly signed a partnership agreement.

The Conference was traditionally held under the auspices of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly (Parliament) of the Russian Federation, federal ministries and agencies. Special support for the project is also provided by the International Airport Association and 'Airport' Association of CIS Civil Aviation.

Anton Koren, the head of AVIACENTER noted that the event outcome document, including the accumulated recommendations of the conference delegates will be directed to the Government of the Russian Federation and the Federal Assembly (Parliament) of the Russian Federation.

The conference was hosted by the Center for Strategic Development in Civil Aviation (AVIACENTER).

Conference strategic partner: Open Joint Stock Company «State transport leasing company».

Title partners: Jet Transfer, AEROFLOT TECHNICS TH.

Partners: International Airport Association, 'Airport' Association of CIS Civil Aviation, Russian United Business Aviation Association, Aviasoyuz Regional and General Aviation Association, Russian Helicopters Group, Part-Ex, Genesis Engineering Company.

Title media partner: the official newspaper of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, Transport of Russia.

Media partners: Transport Strategy – XXI century magazine, transport of the Russian Federation magazine, AviaPort industry agency, Aviaru.net airspace web portal, Aviation EXplorer web portal, Airports International magazine, Airports. Advanced Technologies magazine, KR-media.ru aviation portal, Aviations.ru aviation portal, Aviaglobus magazine, and other media.