Transaero's annulled operating certificate cannot be reinstated
MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax) - The operating certificate of Russian airline Transaero that will be annulled effective October 26 cannot be reinstated, the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Alexander Neradko said at a briefing on Wednesday.
"By an order of the Federal Air Transport Agency dated October 21, the airline's certificate is annulled effective October 26. An annulled certificate, according to the rules, is not reinstated," Neradko said.
While answering journalists' questions, Neradko again underlined this. "As concerns the operating certificate, in accordance with federal avation rules, an annulled certificate can't be reinstated," he said.
The decision to annul the certificate, Neradko said, was made after an unplanned inspection of Transaero (the relevant act was confirmed on Tuesday, October 20), "of identified deficiencies", and also "in connection with the deterioration of the main production figures and financial and economic state of activities that affect the safety of flights and consumer rights."
On Wednesday morning Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov announced that the operating certificate of Transaero would be annulled starting on October 26: "Yesterday Rosaviatsia completed the inspection, and experts signed a relevant act in which the further operations of Transaero became impossible. Therefore this morning an order on annulling the operating certificate of Transaero starting on October 26 of this year was signed," the minister said during an interview on Rossiya 1 television channel.
He said that this means that from the time of the winter schedule coming into effect, "on October 26, when all airlines of the world significantly decrease their amount of transportation, the aircraft of Transaero will not be able to take to the air." "All passengers that have a ticket in hand, as we said earlier, will be taken on by Aeroflot Group of Companies and they will be transported directly on Aeroflot flights or on the flights of other Russian airlines, which are lending a hand in this situation," Sokolov said. There remain "slightly fewer than 150,000" passengers with Transaero tickets, by October 26 there will be "fewer than 100,000," the minister said.