AiRUnion

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AiRUnion
Logo of the AiRUnion
Founding: 2004
Members: 5
Seat: RussiaRussia Russia
Frequent Flyer
Program:
Fleet: > 120

AiRUnion ( Russian Альянс AiRUnion) was a marketing alliance formed in 2004 between the five Russian airlines KrasAir , Omskavia , Samara Airlines , Domodedovo Airlines and Sibaviatrans .

After a short interim phase as a united airline due to financial problems, it was dissolved at the end of September 2008 and was to be merged into the new airline Rosavia , which, however, was postponed indefinitely as a financier due to the economic environment on the part of the Russian government and was not implemented until autumn 2013. In addition, all five of the airlines involved have now ceased flight operations for financial reasons.

history

Established as an alliance

In 2004, KrasAir's director Boris Michailowitsch Abramowitsch launched an alliance of five Russian regional airlines as AirBridge in order to operate jointly on the Russian market. Participated in the alliance

The common marketing name AiRUnion was decided in July 2005 and registered as a trademark . A merger of the five companies under the umbrella of the AiRUnion was promised. In the following years, the aircraft of the companies were repainted in a common design. Joint online ticket sales also started later on the KrasAir website. There was also cooperation through code sharing , the frequent flyer program AiRUnion Premium and joint services. The companies KrasAir, Domodedovo Airlines and Samara Airlines belonged to 46–51% of the Russian state. The twin brothers Alexander and Boris Abramowitsch had a stake of between 40 and 100% in all five companies.

Expansion as an airline

From 2006 the AiRUnion was formed and gained strength. The aim was to expand on the European market. It negotiated with the international airline alliance Star Alliance to become an airline. In January 2007 it became known that the state-owned Hungarian Malev would be taken over by her. This company is a Hungarian subsidiary of KrasAir and thus of the planned company AiRUnion. On February 23, 2007, the purchase agreement for 100% of the Malev shares for about 800,000 euros was signed and the takeover of 131 mil. Euro debts agreed. Malev has been part of the oneworld alliance since the end of March . It was also announced in February 2007 that the AiRUnion and the Austrian Star Alliance member Austrian Airlines wanted to cooperate. This meant that the hub at Vienna-Schwechat Airport could also have been used. The Krasnoyarsk-Vienna and Vienna-Moscow routes were to be operated together. With the takeover of Austrian Airlines and the end of the AiRUnion, these plans have meanwhile become meaningless.

On May 2, 2007, President Putin confirmed the merger of the companies KrasAir, Omskavia, Samara Airlines, Domodedovo Airlines and Sibaviatrans to form AiRUnion Holding . The merger of the previous alliance into a joint airline was thus formally completed. By the end of October 2007, the companies are to be completely merged under the name AiRUnion. Russia was originally supposed to hold only 45% of the shares in the new airline. Boris M. Abramowitsch should get the majority stake in the new airline. In February 2008, however, it became known that the Russian state would take over a majority stake in the new airline through the Rostechnologii consortium . The Abramovich brothers should keep the majority in the Hungarian airline Malev. In June 2007 Airunion announced its intention to cooperate with the German Lufthansa . As a result, a code sharing agreement was signed in early July 2007. This was crucial for the Lufthansa move from Sheremetyevo Airport to the airport Domodedovo .

Crisis and end of the project

In September 2008 the Russian press reported on financial difficulties at AiRUnion, whose major shareholders were the brothers Boris and Alexander Abramowitsch. The goal of becoming number three in the Russian aviation market had not been achieved.

The solution was seen in a plan for partial nationalization and the merger with seven other airlines, some of which were also no longer considered viable on their own: Atlant-Soyuz Airlines , Rossija , Kavminvodyavia , Vladivostok Avia , Saravia and Orenair . Both Rossija and Orenair had developed into significantly larger airlines by 2013.

All five AiRUnion airlines finally ceased operations at the end of September 2008 due to the financial problems. Kerosene bills remained unpaid and the company was no longer supplied with new fuel from the airports. AiRUnion was finally dissolved at the end of 2008 and the new airline Rosavia was to be founded as a catch basin for these and the aforementioned small Russian companies, but this has already been postponed several times. The future development is uncertain.

Market share

According to an interview by Alexander Abromowitsch with Aero International magazine, the AiRUnion had a market share of around 12% in 2007, as did its competitor S7 Airlines. 3.3 mil. Passengers were carried in 2006. Revenues grew 24% in 2006. Nevertheless, the desired dominant position on the Russian airline market could not be achieved. A good part of the company's monumental aircraft fleet was not operational during its lifetime, only newer machines served the existing airlines.

The general director Boris Michailowitsch Abramowitsch and his brother Alexander were in addition to their stake in KrasAir to about 40% and the AiRUnion also in the other AirUnion airlines Domodedovo Airlines (49%), Omskavia (70%), Samara Airlines (40%) and Sibaviatrans (100%) involved. In 2006 they founded the first Russian low-cost airline, SkyExpress . They are also 49% shareholders in the cargo airlines Volga-Dnepr Airlines and their subsidiary AirBridge Cargo .

Destinations

The merged company's hubs are to be Krasnoyarsk, Moscow-Domodedovo and Samara, from which numerous Russian and a few European and intercontinental destinations are to be served:

Russia

Abakan , Barnaul , Baikit , Belgorod , Blagoveshchensk , Bodaibo , Bratsk , Khabarovsk , Igarka , Irkutsk , Yakutsk , Ekaterinburg , Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk , Kazan , Kemerovo , Komsomolsk-on-Amur , Krasnodar , Krasnoyarsk , Mineralnye Vody , Moscow , Motygino , Norilsk , Nizhnevartovsk , Nischni Novgorod , Novosibirsk , Novy , Omsk , Petropavlovsk , Podkamennaja Tunguska , Rostov-on-Don , Samara , Severo-Yenisejsk , Sochi , St. Petersburg , Surgut , Tomsk , Tscheljabinsk , Chita , Tura , Turuchansk , Ulan-Ude , Ufa , Vladivostok and Voronezh

Asia

Yerevan , Baku , Gəncə , Naxçıvan , Beijing , Tianjin , Almaty , Qaraghandy , Qostanai , Shymkent , Bishkek , Dushanbe , Khujand , Bangkok , Bukhara , Samarkand and Tashkent

Europe

Frankfurt am Main , Hanover , Cologne / Bonn , Stuttgart , Vienna , Lisbon , Kiev and Simferopol

fleet

A KrasAir Boeing 737-300 in AiRUnion livery
Boeing 757-200 of KrasAir in AiRUnion livery
Boeing 767-200 of KrasAir in AiRUnion livery

The fleets of the five companies involved largely consisted of outdated and barely competitive Soviet aircraft.

By 2012, USD 600 million should be invested in order to acquire at least 25 new aircraft and thereby renew the fleet. KrasAir was recently in the process of replacing some of its aircraft with leased aircraft from Boeing . In addition, the company had ordered 15 Sukhoi Superjet 100s and an option for another 15. In addition, more copies of the newer Russian models Antonov An-148 and Tupolew Tu-204 were to be purchased. In addition, the Russian state had founded the company AiRUnion-RRJ , which was endowed with USD 20 million share capital. It should become a subsidiary of the AiRUnion to buy more superjets.

As of April 2013, the AiRUnion companies together had around 120 aircraft:

KrasAir
Domodedovo Airlines
Omskavia
Samara Airlines
Sibaviatrans

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b http://www.aktuell.ru/russland/news/airline_rosavia_soll_tupolews_statt_west-jets_kaufen_23148.html
  2. ↑ a b Russian state airline Rossavia is not taking off this season
  3. ↑ Russia News: "Airlines form alliance AiRUnion" (July 20, 2005)
  4. ↑ Kommersant : "Star Alliance Chooses AiRUnion" (May 31, 2006) ( Memento of March 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ BerlinSpotter Newsletter Übersee February 25th - March 30th 2007
  6. ↑ Russian airline alliance buys Hungary's airline Malev. Retrieved June 21, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Russia News: “New Airline AirUnion May Start” (May 3, 2007)
  8. ^ Russian daily newspaper " Vedomosti ", No. 79 (1859), May 3, 2007
  9. ↑ RIA Novosti: "Airline AirUnion should be launched by the end of October 2007" (July 27, 2007)
  10. ↑ aero.de: "AiRUnion under state majority control" (February 19, 2008) ( Memento from September 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ http://www.aktuell.ru/russland/wirtschaft/staatsbank_veb_uebernnahm_ungonien_airline_malev_1870.html
  12. ↑ Moscow German newspaper of September 10, 2008: Controlled descent
  13. ^ Aero International, May 2007

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