Travel Notes

Siberian Crash 

Irkutsk disaster highlights shortcomings

Siberian Airlines, now known as S7, and the Irkutsk airport are being scrutinized after the crash of an Airbus A-310 on July 9, killing 122 people. While the crash was widely covered in the press, less reported was the fact that several S7 flights had emergency landings in the days following the crash, including two flights landing in Irkutsk. 

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said his agency would inspect S7’s planes for compliance with Russian safety regulations. 

S7 Airlines, founded in 1992, is Russia’s second largest passenger airline after Aeroflot. It flew over four million passengers in 2005. The name change to S7 (“S” for Siberia and “7” for Russia’s international phone code) preceded the Irkutsk crash and was aimed, some speculated, at distancing the airline from previous accidents. In 2001, Ukrainian troops mistakenly shot down a Siberian Airlines Tu-154M, 185 kilometers outside Sochi. In 2004, another Tu-154M – flight 1047 – was blown up by a Chechen suicide bomber. 

Meanwhile, Irkutsk regional authorities have announced plans for a new airport near the village of Steklyanka, saying the current facility was obsolete, Interfax reported. The federal government is expected to pay for the runways, the region will pick up the tab for infrastructure, and private investors reportedly have agreed to finance construction of the terminal. 

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said that, notwithstanding plans to move the airport out of the city, the current airport’s problems should be corrected, including removal of buildings near runways.  The committee investigating the A-310 crash has already ordered the airport to clear its territory of garages, such as those the July 9 flight crashed into after landing.  

E-Metro

Moscow Metro goes high tech 

The Moscow Metro is on an IT buying spree, with the recent addition of video surveillance cameras in cars and new information and emergency call stands on platforms.

Now the Metro is looking to introduce e-tickets as a possible replacement for the present paper ones with magnetic stripes. An e-ticket experiment will be conducted through the end of 2006. Students and some other passenger groups have already adopted e-tickets.

The non-contact chip used in the new tickets works three to four times faster than magnetic passes, and the metro’s management hopes it will shorten lines at turnstiles during rush hours. The new technology may also help to combat counterfeit passes, as e-tickets are said to be too difficult to forge at home. 

Air Taxi

Major cities get a new link

Nizhny Novgorod has become the hub for Russia’s first air taxi, Dexter, which started operating between Nizhny Novgorod and the cities of Moscow, Samara and Kazan on July 15. Dexter also serves the Moscow-Yaroslavl and Kazan-Samara routes. The company currently operates six planes, but plans to expand to 45 by July 2008. The $85 million project is funded through private investment.

Regular fares between Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow are $325. However, one can also charter a flight for $5.80 per kilometer for roundtrip flights and $7.70 per km for one way.  

Flights are being served by an M-101T, built at the Sokol airplane plant in Nizhny Novgorod. The M-101T is the first Russian plane developed through private investment. It flies up to six passengers and can reach a speed of 261 miles per hour. 

Domodedovo Best 

Airport tagged as best in CIS

Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport won the title of Best Airport in the Commonwealth of Independent States, awarded annually by the CIS Airport Association of Civil Aviation. 

Domodedovo, Moscow’s most modern and dynamic passenger airport, won in the category of airports with a yearly passenger load greater than one million people. Over the first four months of this year, 3.88 million passengers used Domodedovo airport, a 16.4 percent increase versus 2005. The airport serves about 14 million passengers each year and, according to Airports Council International, is the 89th busiest in the world. Domodedovo plans to invest $180 million into terminal expansion and IT in 2006. 

The board of judges looked at 20 parameters in naming Domodedovo tops among 23 major Russian and CIS airports, but their primary criterion was flight safety. Ironically, however, the majority of Russian flights that have gone wrong in recent years have departed from Domodedovo. These include two flights blown up in the air by suicide bombers on August 24, 2004, killing 90, and the S7 flight that crashed after landing in Irkutsk on July 9 (see “Siberian Crash” on preceding page).