Investigation of the day. How the owners of Transaero lost their company
According to the 2014 rating, Transaero ranked 17th in the world in terms of flight safety and was considered one of the most reliable carriers in Russia. For the entire existence of this brand, not a single human victim has been recorded. But, unexpectedly for many, at the end of October 2015, Rosaviatsiya cancels the air operator certificate, and Transaero is declared bankrupt. The question of where Transaero's planes are and the critical statements of passengers of the former giant still often arise in the media.
Boeing 737-400 (Boeing 737-400)
Transaero routes covered more than 150 destinations around the world. In terms of the size of the fleet and the number of passengers, the company ranked second in Russia, and in long-haul aviation, it steadily held the undisputed leadership not only in the country, but throughout the CIS.
Until 2014, Moscow Domodedovo served as the base airport, and later flights began to be made to Vnukovo.
October 20, 2015 CEO and the co-owner of S7 Airlines decides to acquire a controlling stake. But the deal did not take place, and Transaero soon ceased to exist. All international destinations were transferred to the Russian Aeroflot, and most of the ships were decommissioned and put into storage at various airports in Russia and abroad.
Airbus A321-200 (Airbus A321)
Where are Transaero planes today
Numbered 104 ships, of which:
- Boeing (Boeing) - 97 units;
- Airbus (Airbus) - 2 units;
- Tupolev (Tupolev) - 5 units.
The oldest airliner at the end of 2015 was a 28-year-old Boeing 767-200, and there were only six new aircraft.
After clarification of the circumstances of the bankruptcy and the decommissioning of the aircraft, the lessors of the liners leased a certain amount to the new owners. Some were detained for non-payment of airport taxes, the fate of the rest is in limbo.
Boeing 737-500 (Boeing 737-500)
Goodwill of Aeroflot
Aeroflot Group and its member airline Rossiya have agreed to help the laid-off employees of the liquidated carrier with employment and to lease 34 aircraft for them. After an engineering and technical survey, it turned out that nine units should not be allowed to fly at all.
One of the main problems was the so-called cannibalization, that is, the replacement of the main components not with new units, but borrowed from another vessel. Therefore, it was not uncommon for a spare part belonging to one lessor to end up on board belonging to another. Such confusion has led to a complete mess, the lack of regulatory documentation on safety and operation. In this regard, Aeroflot is ready to include and serve only 25 aircraft.
Boeing 737-700 (Boeing 737-700)
This Monday can be considered the day of the final death of the company "". At midnight on October 26, the air operator's certificate expired at the carrier, and earlier announced that it would cancel this document. Transaero planes will no longer take to the skies.
Established in 1990, Transaero became the first private airline in Russia. It was founded in 1990 by the son of the Minister of Radio Industry of the USSR, Colonel-General Pyotr Pleshakov, and Tatyana Anodina, chairman of the Interstate Aviation Committee. The company started with charter flights on Aeroflot aircraft. The official birthday of the company was November 5, 1991: on this day, Transaero made its first flight - chartered flight on the route Moscow - Tel Aviv - Moscow. The aircraft was leased, but was already flying under its own UN code.
In 1992, the airline purchased its first Il-86 aircraft and launched its first regular flight Moscow - Norilsk. In the photo - crew members before the flight (from left to right): chief pilot of the airline B. Login, flight engineer G. Stolyarov, navigator V. Kalinin and ship commander Y. Shrage.
It was Transaero that was the first in the Russian civil aviation began to purchase foreign-made aircraft and equipped its fleet with them. Since 1993, the company has established regular Passenger Transportation on domestic and foreign routes. In the same year, the airline launches the first regular international flights Moscow - Kyiv, Moscow - Alma-Ata, Moscow - Tel Aviv. In the photo - Boeing 737, which since 1996 has made flights on the route Moscow - Chisinau - Moscow 3 times a week.
In 1993, Transaero became the first of Russian airlines offering business class services to domestic flights. In the photo - employees of the airline "Transaero" are invited to fly.
Alexander Pleshakov - from the moment the company was founded and until 2015, he worked in the company. During the existence of Transaero, he held the positions of president, general director, chairman of the board of directors of the company. Prior to founding the company, he worked as a designer at the Moscow Machine-Building Plant "Speed" and was an expert at the International Commercial Department of the USSR Ministry of Civil Aviation.
In May 2001, the wife of Alexander Pleshakov became the general director of the company. She became the first woman in Russian history to head an airline. A graduate of the Moscow Aviation Institute and a candidate of technical sciences, she joined her husband's company back in 1992, starting as a senior expert in the technology department. For two, Alexander and Olga Pleshakov owned 36.6% of the company, another 3% belonged to Alexander's mother, Tatyana Anodina.
In 2005, Transaero becomes the first and only operator passenger aircraft Boeing 747 in Russia, CIS and Eastern Europe. The airline's fleet consisted of 106 airliners, which included Boeing 777, Boeing 747, Boeing 767, Boeing 737, Airbus A321, Tu-214 and two cargo Tu-204S. In 2006 the company was re-registered in St. Petersburg.
In 2009, Transaero became the first Russian airline to start providing first-class services on domestic routes and is among the top ten world air carriers on tourism and recreation routes.
Since 2010, Transaero has been at the peak of its success. This year it opens more than 20 new destinations for regular flights, including flights Moscow - Beijing, Moscow - New York, Moscow - Miami. In 2011, the company's profit increased more than 3 times compared to 2010 - up to 1.83 billion rubles, and in 2012 it continues to grow at a rate exceeding the average growth rates for the industry in Russia. Over the 10 years from 2002 to 2012, the airline's passenger traffic increased 41 times, the number of passengers carried increased 27 times, to 10.3 million, the airline's fleet increased more than 8 times. In 2012, Olga Pleshakova became the most influential woman in Russian business, and Transaero was the first Russian airline to receive the World Airline Awards, established by Skytrax, in the global nomination "World's Most Progressive Airline". In 2013, the company's net profit amounted to 788.38 million rubles,
In 2014, the first wake-up call rang: the company began to experience its first financial difficulties against the backdrop of a strong decline in passenger traffic, which led to the emerging financial crisis. At the end of December, Transaero received state guarantees for a loan of 9 billion rubles. The company refused incentive payments to top management and the board of directors, but this did not help: in the first quarter of 2015, the net loss amounted to 5.742 billion rubles. The deputy chairman of the government, regarding the assistance to the carrier, said that the difficult financial situation of the company and the "lack of a clear understanding by the government of what is happening inside the company" call into question further loans.
Despite serious problems, in May of this year the company was able to carry out restyling and presented an updated corporate identity, its development was estimated at $10 million, although the company denied this figure. However, the company got worse and worse. By June 2015, accounts payable exceeded 61 billion rubles. In early August, Transaero posted on its website new "favorable price offers" for flights to 58 destinations, the prices for which were 10% lower than those of competitors, after which Aeroflot accused Transaero of dumping due to a loan for 9 billion rubles received from VTB under state guarantees at the end of 2014. Transaero has already received 9 billion rubles and is in line for state guarantees ranging from 40 billion to 70 billion rubles. Where did they spend 9 billion? To dumping,” said the general director of Aeroflot.
What's going on with Transaero? This question still does not lose its relevance among Russians who prefer to move with the help of air view transport. And it is really urgent, since a huge number of people used the services of the above airline. The geography of its flights is extensive: India, Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia and so on, so on, so on. What is happening with Transaero, the company that was the largest player in the domestic transportation market? The company managed over 100 aircraft, and the profit of 2014 was a fabulous amount - 114 billion rubles. Why did a "prosperous" air carrier suddenly become bankrupt? What is happening with Transaero today? Let's consider these questions in more detail.
Company owners
The air carrier "Transaero" was established at the end of December 1990. Its owners were the son of the Minister of Radio Industry Soviet Union Alexander Pleshakov and head of the Interstate Aviation Committee Tatyana Anodina.
Before last days the existence of the airline, its executive director was Alexander Pleshakov, and the Board of Directors of the commercial structure was led by his wife, Olga Pleshakova.
Reasons for the collapse
The situation about what is happening with Transaero can be described to the point of banality. The company suffered bankruptcy. But financial fiasco never occurs in a vacuum. Its cause is a short-sighted and irrational leadership style. The owners of the air carrier have so unbalanced the levels of income and expenses that experts are still trying to figure out what really happened to Transaero.
The beginning of the crisis
Meanwhile, the carrier had financial problems for a long time. Back in the period from 2007 to 2009, the amount of debt increased from 10 to 32 billion rubles.
True, by 2014 the situation was somewhat leveled. The management's desire to enter the stock market contributed to the destabilization of the financial situation. However, it turned out to be quite problematic to put this idea into practice, and experts immediately suspected that financial statements carrier is non-transparent. In addition, the cost of the company itself was unreasonably high. But these are far from all the pitfalls of what actually happened with Transaero. Perplexity was caused by the feigned optimism of the owners: they say, things are going great. personally stated that Transaero does not need additional assets, therefore, there is no need to place securities. One way or another, but the audit companies that were engaged in checking the financial documentation of the air carrier signed the reports with huge reservations.
Crisis intensifies
By the end of 2014, analysts had already finally predicted the scale of what was happening with Transaero. Her financial situation has become simply terrifying.
The total amount of debt to creditors has reached astronomical figures - 250 billion rubles, while financial claims from refueling structures and air carriers amounted to 20 billion.
About 150 billion rubles is a debt on leasing obligations, moreover, more than 30 aircraft are owned by credit institutions: VTB, Vnesheconombank, Sberbank. Yes, and before banking structures, Transaero had debt obligations - their share amounted to about 80 billion. A number of financial organizations turned out to be among the creditors: Moscow Credit VTB, Sberbank, Alfa-Bank, FC Otkritie Bank. It would seem that the state should delve into the situation, because it sees what is happening with Transaero , and certainly able to help solve the financial crisis.However, officials were in no hurry to interfere in the affairs of the largest participant in the air transportation market.Why?
Human factor
As already emphasized, the financial collapse of Transaero is the work of the company's management, which for many years tried by all means to increase the prestige and significance of its offspring, presenting it as "the best of the best."
However, in reality, it was not such, and it was often necessary to splurge with the use of PR technologies. Despite the fact that Transaero had a huge debt to creditors, the owners of the company continued the campaign called "Discount Ticket Sales". At the same time, the air carrier's partners strongly opposed fulfilling their obligations on credit. The pilots and flight attendants were well aware of what was happening with the Transaero airline, but its management was trying to build a model that would be another argument in favor of the fact that the exit of its offspring from the market would lead to the collapse of the entire industry.
Ways out of the crisis
At the end of 2014, the above air carrier receives a loan from VTB Bank in the amount of 9 billion rubles under state guarantees. However, officials long enough figured out what really happened with Transaero, and preferred not to interfere anymore.
Arkady Dvorkovich, an assistant to the head of the Russian Cabinet of Ministers, said that it is very difficult for the government to understand what financial upheavals are taking place within the airline, and, due to the lack of transparency in this matter, providing material support to Transaero is an incorrect measure. Minister economic development Alexey Ulyukaev supported his colleague, emphasizing that it makes no sense to financially support inefficient management.
Aeroflot
Soon there were real shifts in solving the problem. Aeroflot became interested in the bankrupt company. This aviation giant, observing in practice what is happening with Transaero flights, was ready to acquire a controlling stake in the bankrupt carrier. Aeroflot offered a symbolic amount for the securities - 1 ruble, but the deal did not take place. Why? Firstly, the state no longer intervened in the situation, and secondly, the owners of the shares could not "collect" the necessary 75% plus 1 security into the total array.
And thirdly, creditors were not satisfied with the restructuring plan offered by Sberbank. The government had no choice but to decide on the financial insolvency of Transaero. However, the bankrupt himself had to fulfill his obligations to customers, but at the expense of the efforts of other air carriers.
What conditions did the passengers find themselves in?
Of course, the news of the bankruptcy of the country's largest airline was not kept secret. Until now, many are trying to figure out what is happening with the passengers of Transaero. Officials of the Russian Ministry of Transport hurried to reassure tourists that the obligations assumed by the bankrupt company would be fulfilled by other carriers, including: Aeroflot, S-7, UTair, " Ural Airlines"," Orenburg Airlines ". However, a caveat should be kept in mind: if a ticket was purchased for a flight with a date before December 15 of last year, then it will take place. If it is purchased later than the above period, then the passenger will be refunded its cost. Moreover, on the Internet portal of the Transaero company, you can familiarize yourself with detailed instructions about how to return the ticket and get your money. If you purchased it online, then all return transactions must also be done via the Web. If the ticket was purchased at the offices of Transaero, then you need to contact it there.
Those who purchased it from a tour operator need to pay a visit to him. If you took tickets at the box office of Transaero, then you will only have to take them there. Employees of the airline said that the money for the ticket will be returned within 14 to 30 days from the date of application.
What should employees do?
Those who worked in the bankrupt airline found themselves in a difficult situation. The question of what happens to Transaero employees is also of interest to a huge number of people. Today, pilots, flight attendants of a bankrupt air carrier cannot get a job, hoping that sooner or later they will be paid their wages. Some pilots still manage to get jobs in foreign airlines, while flight attendants are still experiencing financial difficulties. Aeroflot and the new united airline Rossiya will help to partially solve this problem.
Conclusion
Experts say that even such a powerful structure as Aeroflot is not able to cope with the debt burden that Transaero has built up. However, there will not be any serious consequences of a social nature. Until mid-December last year, almost all obligations for cargo transportation within the framework of purchased tickets should have been fulfilled; some passengers received money for them.
Aircraft on the balance sheet of Transaero will become the property of Aeroflot. Part of the property will be sold through auctions. Lenders will certainly suffer huge losses. Experts say that today every airline that has its own fleet of aircraft and desire can fly to destinations previously served by Transaero.
is a private airline that began air transportation in December 1990. The company is among the top ten in the world in terms of flight safety.
Source: http:// .pro/blog/aviakompaniya-transaero
History of Transaero
The company was founded in 1991 by the son of the Minister of Radio Industry of the USSR Alexander Pleshakov, and since 2001 it has been managed by his wife Olga.
For two, they own 36.6% of the company, another 3% belongs to Alexander's mother Tatyana Anodina, chairman (MAK).
Transaero Airlines received the IOSA international safety certificate.
Introduction of the "Imperial" class on new-generation aircraft replenishing the fleet of "Transaero" - Boeing 777 and Boeing 747-400.
New Transaero flights from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk were launched.
The airline opened 12 new routes across Russia, to the cities of Blagoveshchensk, Irkutsk (it stopped flights in the autumn of the same year), Kazan, Kemerovo, Magadan, Magnitogorsk, Novy Urengoy, Omsk, Samara, Ulan-Ude, Ufa, Krasnodar. As of June 2009, Transaero operated 16 flights within Russia.
For the first time, Transaero began flights to Mexico - to the famous world resort of Cancun.
Transaero has completely switched over to e-ticket, abandoning the paper ticket that has become familiar.
The airline's fleet has reached 57 units.
February - a listing of shares of JSC "AK" Transaero "" was carried out on.
April - the official pages of the airline were created in social networks Facebook, VKontakte and microblogging on Twitter.
August - Transaero became the first A320neo customer in Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe. With by Airbus a memorandum was signed on the purchase of eight A320neo aircraft with an option for 4 aircraft of this type. The catalog price of eight aircraft is $729 million.
October - the airline became the first customer of the largest double-deck passenger Airbus aircraft A380 in Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe by signing a memorandum of understanding with Airbus. The acquisition was announced four air vessels of this type (catalogue value 1.5 billion euros), expected delivery date - from the fourth quarter of 2015).
November - the first airline in Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe ordered 4 747-8 Intercontinental aircraft. Transaero plans to purchase airliners in a four-class layout with a large number of premium class seats.
December - Transaero acquires 4 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The airliners will replace the Boeing 767.
The airline began operating flights from Vnukovo Airport.
The airline launched flights to the following destinations: Los Angeles, Rome, Venice, Milan, Paris.
June - within the framework of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, the airline signed a firm contract with Airbus S.A.S. for the supply of 4 A380 liners (worth $1.7 billion) and with the enterprise " Civil aircraft Sukhoi for the supply of 6 Sukhoi Superjet aircraft with an option for another 10 aircraft (worth $0.5 billion).
August - Transaero and Virgin Atlantic entered into a codeshare agreement. In accordance with it, Transaero flights between Moscow and London will have UN / VS code joint with Virgin Atlantic. At the same time, Virgin flights
In 2013, the company's revenue grew by 16%, net profit - by 14%, to 1 billion rubles.
In terms of traffic, Transaero is second only to "" - in 2013, the company transported about 12.5 million people. The fleet consists of 103 aircraft, 20 of which are long-haul Boeing-747s.
It is based at the Moscow Vnukovo airports and also forms an additional hub at the St. Petersburg airport. It operates passenger and cargo flights across Russia, as well as international flights of medium and long distances to the countries of Europe, Asia, North and Latin America.
Classes of service Transaero
- Imperial
- Business
- Premium class
- Economy class
- tourist class
- Discount class
Contacts of Transaero Airlines
Website: http://transaero.ru/
VK: https://vk.com/transaero
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/transaero
Tel.: +7 495 788 8080
Tel.: 8 800 555 3 555 (free within Russia)
That 75% plus 1 share of Transaero will be bought by Aeroflot for 1 ruble. At the same time, the debts of Transaero, together with leasing contracts, had reached 260 billion rubles by that time. The Vedomosti newspaper publishes the story of how the owners of the air carrier - the Pleshakovs - built and lost the company.
In 1992, the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) was established, which was involved in the certification of aircraft, airports, the development of airworthiness standards and the investigation of aviation accidents. Tatyana Anodina, the mother of the future Transaero CEO Alexander Pleshakov, and part-time aviation general, former head of the technical department of the USSR Ministry of Civil Aviation, became its chairman. “Tatyana Grigoryevna knew how the complex business of air transportation works, that's all. Unlike the pilots who led hundreds of squadrons, into which Aeroflot was divided in the 1990s, the only air carrier in the USSR,” says Infomost CEO Boris Rybak.
The first flight of Transaero took place on November 5, 1991 on a rented Tu-154 along one of the most profitable routes - to Israel. In 1992, with the money earned during the year of flights, Transaero acquired its first Il-86 and opened the Moscow-Norilsk route.
In 1997, Transaero signed an agreement with Boeing on the preparation of a contract for the supply of 40 new aircraft. “The company was lucky - it did not have time to buy a single new Boeing. Otherwise, the story of Transaero could have ended when the crisis broke out,” says Aleksey Sinitsky, editor-in-chief of the Air Transport Review magazine. By the 1998 crisis, Transaero had 17 Boeing 737s, the average age of which was over 20 years.
Back in 1997, Transaero registered aviation company Transaero, whose board of directors included two representatives of the oligarch Boris Berezovsky. For several years, Berezovsky's structures were able to consolidate almost 44% of the shares, and then the company was supported by the chairman of the Federation Council, the governor of the Orel region, Yegor Stroyev. In 2000, the oligarch had to leave Russia, and Stroev helped the company save on taxes: on his orders, Transaero was granted tax breaks to the local budget in the amount of 50% under the obligation to reconstruct the local airport and open regular flights from Orel to Moscow. The airport has not been reconstructed.
In 2004, the airline changed its registration to St. Petersburg, the Pleshakovs bought out Berezovsky's stake in 2005-2006, which, according to Vedomosti, could cost them 2.5 billion rubles.
The Pleshakovs gained full control over Transaero by 2006. A year earlier, the fleet was restored to the level of 1997 - 17 aircraft. By 2010, their number reached 59. At the same time, by the end of 2009, the airline's net debt was five times higher than EBITDA. And from 2007 to 2015, Transaero showed profit only once - in 2011. Analysts noticed the first signs of a crisis in Transaero in 2013 - then the company, with a long delay and the auditor's reservations, published financial statements under IFRS. “And in 2014, when the events in Ukraine began and the economic situation began to deteriorate more and more rapidly, especially at the end of the year, it became clear that Transaero would not survive,” says Rybak.
One of the sources of the publication claims that around that time the Pleshakovs first offered to buy out their business for $300 million, reducing the offer to $100 million a year later.
In October 2014, Sberbank announced the organization of a syndicated loan in the amount of up to 45 billion rubles - to refinance the company's debt. In addition, after Transaero, it received state guarantees for a loan of 9 billion rubles from VTB and refused a loan from Sberbank, starting negotiations on new state guarantees for large amounts - up to 70 billion rubles, but, according to sources of the publication, the fate of the company has already been decided. “But creditors and the government were afraid to immediately apply tough measures to Transaero - otherwise half the country would not come back from vacation,” one of them says.
“Shuvalov just ran out of patience at a certain point,” the federal official says, and notes that no one in the government and state creditor banks understood what business model the Pleshakovs were talking about, and it became clear that the prospect of stopping flights and strikes was becoming real employees. Therefore, Shuvalov handed over the passengers to Aeroflot, only this company would have the capacity to transport such a number of people.
“I think that for Alexander Petrovich Pleshakov, the proposal to give the company for 1 ruble at a government meeting was a surprise. But he stood up and said that if the banks were not ready to restructure debts otherwise, then he was ready to give up the company, let the banks talk to another shareholder and that he was grateful to Aeroflot, ”says Vitaly, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vnukovo Airport and a minority co-owner of Transaero Vantsev.
After purchasing a 75.1% stake in Transaero, Aeroflot is going to reduce the aircraft fleet of the acquired airline by 70%, optimize routes and restructure debts.
Pleshakova and Anodina did not respond to Vedomosti's requests.
