The Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) has detained the general director and chief accountant of VIM-Avia in a fraud case. This was announced by the official representative of the department Svetlana Petrenko.
“As part of a criminal case on embezzlement of passengers' funds by employees of the VIM-AVIA airline (part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the General Director of the said company Alexander Kochnev, as well as chief accountant Ekaterina Panteleeva, was detained by the Main Directorate for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Committee of Russia ", - she said.
In the near future, they will be charged, then the investigation plans to petition the court to choose a preventive measure against them.
At the same time, Petrenko said: “The co-owners of the company, Rashid and Svetlana Mursekaevs, hastily left the country, and according to the information available to the investigation, they are abroad. In this regard, measures are being taken to establish their whereabouts. "
The situation with the delays in VIM-Avia flights worsened at the end of last week. Later, the airline officially announced that it did not have enough money to continue flying and it was stopping charter flights. It took the intervention of the Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency. The total debt of the airline to creditors, according to the Federal Air Transport Agency, is 7 billion rubles. The prosecutor's office began to check, and the TFR opened a criminal case on embezzlement.
The day before, the Ministry of Transport agreed with airports and refueling companies on uninterrupted service of all VIM-Avia flights. Passengers of regular flights will be transported until October 15. The media also reported that VIM-Avia will receive 500 million rubles from the state as a VAT refund for the third quarter.
2. Owners and management
Rashid Mursekaev and his wife, Svetlana Mursekaeva, own 100% of the shares in VIM-Avia.
General Director - Alexander Yakovlevich Kochnev.
Fleet
Boeing-757 airlines VIM-Avia
According to the official website, the airline's fleet as of June 2010 consists of 11 Boeing 757-200 aircraft. Previously, the aircraft Yak-42, Il-62 and Tu-154 were operated.
Activity
The VIM-Avia airline specializes in charter flights. On November 1, 2007, VIM-Avia was named by the head of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Evgeny Bachurin, one of the airlines that most often delay the departures of charter flights. As a punishment for such violations, the Federal Air Transport Agency planned to limit the number of charter flights of this carrier for the winter season 2007/2008 by 15-25%.
Routes
VIM-Avia carries out passenger and cargo transportation from Moscow and is one of the largest charter carriers in Russia. The share of regular flights as of February 01, 2010 was only 32.4%.
At different periods of time, the company's route network included the cities of Barnaul, Irkutsk, Bratsk, Sochi, Omsk, Ufa, Magadan, Vladivostok, Chelyabinsk, Novy Urengoy, Khabarovsk, Ulan-Ude, Magnitogorsk, Khanty-Mansiysk, Beloyarskiy, Yakutsk, Norilsk, Blagoveshchensk , Magadan, etc.
Recently, the airline has again been actively developing domestic air transportation, for example, having started flying in 2010 from Moscow to Sochi, Yekaterinburg and Krasnodar, by the spring of 2011 the airline has regular flights to Khabarovsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Magadan, Chita, Barnaul, Omsk, Sochi and Novosibirsk, and the number of flights to Yekaterinburg and Krasnodar, due to their high popularity and occupancy, has increased to two per day.
Performance indicators
| Buryat Airlines |
On Friday, September 29, they were placed under house arrest by the court. As the press secretary of the Basmanny Court clarified to Gazeta.Ru, Panteleeva and Korchev were appointed a preventive measure in the form of house arrest until November 25.
After massive delays and cancellations of VIM-Avia flights, a criminal case was initiated against them under Part 4 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“fraud”).
Meanwhile, the co-owners of VIM-Avia and Svetlana Mursekaevs have left the country and may be put on the international wanted list.
The problem with VIM-Avia flights began last week. On Monday, September 25, the airline announced that it would suspend charter flights due to financial difficulties. refused to service the aircraft of the troubled carrier due to debts, and from Tuesday VIM-avia relocated to.
An operational headquarters has been created in the Ministry of Transport to solve problems with the transportation of passengers who have already paid for VIM-Avia tickets, to pay off wage arrears to the carrier's employees and to resolve the crisis situation. On Thursday, the Prime Minister signed a decree on the allocation of 98 million rubles. from the government reserve fund for the maintenance of VIM-avia aircraft.
For the export of VIM-avia passengers who are abroad, primarily in Turkey, S7 and.
On Friday, it was announced that, on the instructions of President Vladimir Putin, two Tu-214 special flight units "Russia" serving the top officials of the state were sent to Antalya to take out Russian tourists.
Some tour operators independently take measures to remove their clients from their holiday destinations.
Due to the current crisis, he signed a decree on the disciplinary sanction of the chapter.
Since Friday, Rosaviatsia has published on its website the daily flight schedule of VIM-Avia's regular and charter flights.
A timetable for repayment of existing arrears for fuel and airport services is currently being agreed. The new management of the company cooperates with the law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation, the company assures.
In the footsteps of Transaero
On Friday, Alexander was appointed the new general director of VIM-Avia. According to the representative of VIM-Avia, he was appointed "in order to resolve the crisis situation in the airline."
Alexander Burdin for almost two years was the general director of AK, which he headed after the carrier stopped working. He managed to pay off wage arrears in the amount of 4.1 billion rubles. in front of 10,000 former employees, complete an inventory of fixed assets and collect the airline's property to secure payments to creditors. Prior to that, for two years he headed Unitile, the largest holding in Russia for the production of ceramic building materials, and for 11 years was Deputy General Director, member of the Management Board.
At the same time, Gazeta.Ru reported that they had not received a notification from VIM-Avia on the appointment of a new general director.
According to the current legislation, its appointment is accompanied by appropriate certification and entry into the operator's certificate. The department said that Burdin is not currently listed there.
“We know Alexander Burdin from the situation with the Transaero airline, to which he was also appointed with the wording“ to resolve the crisis situation ”. As you know, Transaero was declared bankrupt in September. This specialist is unknown to the aviation community. We will get to know each other, ”said the representative of the Federal Air Transport Agency.
The executive director of the industry agency AviaPort says Burdin is a qualified financier with extensive experience in crisis management.
“Indeed, his work in a position at Transaero at a time when the company was no longer an airline, but was a legal entity with dubious prospects, was effective, he demonstrated a high result, having satisfied the maximum part of claims, primarily by paying salaries”, - explained the expert.
When Gazeta.Ru asked to comment on Burdin's appointment, the head of the Committee on Transport and Construction said that the main thing is that the personnel decisions made are beneficial to passengers.
However, analysts do not expect any feats from the new CEO.
If two weeks ago the airline was in the hands of management and they made decisions, now the fate of VIM-Avia is in the hands of creditors and suppliers, Panteleev notes.
“If they decide that the restoration or continuation of VIM-Avia's operating activities will reduce the debt in some future, then the carrier, under the guidance of an experienced manager, will be able to fulfill its obligations, the program of anti-crisis reforms and return to life, but if a decision is made to fix losses, then no manager will help, but only a bag of money will help, ”the expert sums up.
Today it became known about the arrest of the general director of the "Vim-Avia" company. He is suspected of stealing money from passengers. It is expected that tomorrow the court will consider the issue of his arrest. Also, the chief accountant of Vim-Avia is now answering the questions of the investigators.
Meanwhile, thousands of passengers are now awaiting their departure at the airports of both Russia and other countries. Other companies, including foreign ones, are already joining the carriage.
The leaders of Vim-Avia were summoned to the Investigative Committee first as witnesses. But after the interrogations, their status changed: from witnesses they became suspects.
“In the framework of a criminal case on embezzlement of funds from passengers of the IC of Russia, the general director of the said company Alexander Kochnev, as well as the chief accountant Yekaterina Panteleeva, were detained. In the near future, they will be charged, after which the investigation plans to petition the court to choose a preventive measure against the defendants in the criminal case. The co-owners of the company, Rashid and Svetlana Mursekaevs, hastily left the country and, according to the information available to the investigation, are abroad. In this regard, measures are being taken to establish their whereabouts, "- said the official representative of the RF IC, Svetlana Petrenko.
The general director of the airline Alexander Kochnev and the chief accountant Yekaterina Panteleeva, according to their lawyers, refuse to testify at this stage. Formally refer to fatigue. Like, more than one sleepless night is behind. It is known that they did not admit their guilt in the fraud case. And they say: there was no theft on their part.
Meanwhile, according to the investigation, during the last week the airline officials, knowingly knowing that there were not enough funds even for the purchase of fuel, continued to sell tickets. The UK is now urging all passengers who have suffered from the actions of "Vim-Avia", to submit the appropriate applications. They will also be included in the case.
The day before, at a meeting with the government, Vladimir Putin harshly criticized the situation with Vim-Avia: “Tens of thousands found themselves in a very difficult situation. It would be good if it was the first time, but this has been going on for years. And we cannot work out normal legal regulation, efficient and effective. I perfectly understand that I want to create conditions for the normal conduct of business, I do not want to burden the business with additional costs associated with various forms of ensuring the interests of people, insurance, and so on. But without this, there can be no normal business either. After all, business is not for businessmen, but for the people who use these services. And I want to tell the minister: I am declaring you incomplete service correspondence. If you cope with this situation quickly and efficiently, then Dmitry Anatolyevich and I will think about what to do with incomplete official compliance. If you can't do it, we'll think about it too. I ask you to quickly and effectively close this problem. "
After these words of the president, the airline’s problems are being quickly resolved both in the Ministry of Transport and in other departments. Today a meeting of the operational headquarters was held, which, in addition to the Ministry of Transport, included representatives of the Federal Air Transport Agency, the airports "Vnukovo" and "Domodedovo", employees of refueling companies and the Federal Tourism Agency. A fundamental decision: urgent assistance will be provided primarily to those tourists who cannot return home from abroad.
“Now we are faced with the task of taking our tourists from abroad. We now have a large number in Turkey. This is the first priority. In parallel, the transportation of regular flights, passengers of regular flights will also be carried out. And only after that we will start the program of performing those flights for which passengers have bought tickets, but the date has not yet come, ”said Zhanna Terekhova, Advisor to the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation.
The Association of Tour Operators of Russia will also be involved in the return of people who are now resting at foreign resorts, but in the near future are to take charter flights to Russia.
“Unfortunately, it is simply not even technically possible to cope with the efforts of the tour operator community today. Therefore, now lists are being formed and a sequence is being formed. Those tourists who did not get on their flights abroad, today continue to rest at the expense of tour operators. I don’t know how, so to speak, this vacation is pleasant or unpleasant for them, but in any case, the tour operators provide accommodation in hotels and food, ”said the director of the Tourpomosh Association Alexander Osaulenko.
According to the Association of Russian Tour Operators, a detailed action plan is being finalized for the removal of Russian tourists with VIM-Avia tickets from Turkish Antalya and other foreign airports. The daily flight schedule must be ready within 48 hours. Regarding regular flights, they will be operated until October 15 inclusive. It is recommended to return tickets for flights after this date. In this case, the money spent, as reported, must be returned. We also managed to come to an agreement with airports and refueling companies on uninterrupted service of all VIM-Avia liners. State guarantees provided.
“There will be six flights, three flights from Moscow will go to Antalya and return passengers to Russia. Empty will fly back to Antalya today and return with passengers. A total of 1,500 people will be transported from Antalya. In addition, the Greek airline "Elineir" today will return 245 passengers of the airline "VIM-Avia" from Heraklion, these are also charter passengers. Carriage of passengers on regular flights continues. Today the flight to Blagoveshchensk was made. In general, only for today 22 regular flights are planned. One regular flight was carried out yesterday, ”said Sergei Izvolsky, an official representative of the Federal Air Transport Agency.
Despite the measures taken, the situation remains difficult. Tens of thousands of passengers remain abroad alone.
A lot of people are awaiting departure at the capital's Vnukovo airport, which for a while became the base for the troubled airline. Airplanes "VIM-Avia" are produced from here practically in manual mode - each flight is individual. The most difficult situation is with flights to Anadyr and Magadan. They were combined, but all the passengers did not fit into one plane. Nerves to the limit.
“They took my luggage, and after a while they told me: you can't get on the flight in any way, there are no seats! Nobody cares how we are here, ”says Angela Sekach.
“We were not provided with either water or food. Nobody worries how we are here, ”says Oksana Mikalyuk.
And one more nuance. The journalists managed not only to find out where the legal address of the airline, one of the ten largest, is located, but also to find it - a shabby one-story building, a garage next door. Only a sign gives out in this house, located in Tatarstan, about a hundred kilometers from Kazan, the office of a company that transported over two million passengers a year.
TASS-DOSSIER. On September 25, 2017, it became known that the Federal Air Transport Agency initiated an unscheduled inspection of the VIM-Avia airline, which recently delayed dozens of flights.
On September 24, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti, with reference to the press secretary of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Arkady Dvorkovich, Aliya Samigullina, reported that the air carrier had asked the authorities to provide state guarantees for loans.
VIM-Avia Airlines LLC is a Russian passenger air carrier.
History
The founder of "VIM-Avia" was the honored pilot of the Russian Federation Viktor Ivanovich Merkulov (the name of VIM is made up of his initials). In the 1990s, he was one of the managers of the Volga-Dnepr transport airline. In 1997 he founded his own company Aerofreight, which was engaged in charter cargo and passenger transportation; at various times it has operated Tu-134, Tu-154, Tu-20, Il-62M, Il-76, An-12 and others.
On August 30, 2003 Aerofreight lost its operator's certificate due to a number of violations: flight delays, transportation of contraband, cargo flights under the guise of passenger flights. Also in June 2003, during an inspection, it turned out that the Tu-154B-2 Aerofrakhta flew from the UAE to Astrakhan with an excess of the maximum landing weight by 10 tons.
In 2002, Merkulov registered the VIM-Avia company, which received an operator certificate on November 27, 2003 and began to operate cargo and passenger flights on the Il-62M and An-12.
In early 2004, Merkulov sold a 75% stake in VIM-Avia to the spouses Rashid and Svetlana Mursekaev, remaining the president of the company (he held the post until his death in 2006).
The Mursekayevs purchased 16 Boeing 757 passenger aircraft manufactured in the 1990s for the company from Condor (Germany) and American Trans Air (USA). The deal amounted to about $ 85 million. In addition, the aviation assets of Center Capital - Chita Avia, as well as the airports of Chita and Bratsk were included in VIM-Avia.
The airline began to operate charter flights to Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Italy and Spain on Boeing 757 aircraft. Until 2014, she specialized in charter flights; in October 2004, regular flights from Moscow to Bratsk and Chita started. Already in 2006, VIM-Avia entered the top ten Russian companies in terms of passenger traffic. In 2007, airports were sold from its structure as non-core assets. At the same time, the VIM-Avia holding was created, which included the airlines RusAir, Bashkortostan and Russian Sky - all of them stopped flying in 2012-2015.
On November 8, 2011, Rosaviatsia introduced restrictions on the VIM-Avia operator's certificate, banning it from flying to Europe. The reason was the incident on November 3, 2011, when in Paris Russian pilots staged a skirmish with airport personnel. This could be the reason for adding the airline to the EU's "black list". The restriction was lifted at the end of June 2012.
In 2014, VIM-Avia abandoned its charter specialization, and the share of passenger traffic on domestic flights reached 90%. In the same year, the airline began operating Airbus A319 and Boeing 767 aircraft. In July 2015, Boeing 737 and 777 entered the VIM-Avia fleet.
In 2015, the media began to report on the carrier's financial problems. In January-February 2015, VTB Bank, Sberbank and other legal entities filed lawsuits for his bankruptcy, but the courts stopped proceedings on most of the claims in the summer of 2015. The company spent the 2016 season without great difficulties, the airline seriously increased traffic between the European part of Russia and the airports of the PRC. Also in the spring of 2016, the company changed its registration address from Moscow to the urban-type settlement Bogatye Saby in the Sabinsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan. In April 2017, VIM-Avia acquired 100% of shares in the Bratsk airport (Irkutsk region).
The media again began to report problems with VIM-Avia in the summer of 2017: on some days the airline canceled or delayed up to 20 flights for a long time. More than 200 thousand of its passengers were carried by other companies. In mid-September 2017, it became known that VIM-Avia was heavily indebted to Domodedovo airport and fuel suppliers. On September 21, VIM-Avia applied to the government for support in repaying loans. The company itself said that the problems with debt repayment were caused by "the traditional seasonal downturn." On September 23, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation announced that VIM Avia was selling air tickets for some of the canceled flights, knowing that it was impossible to fly. On this fact, a pre-investigation check was started.
Park, main hubs and directions
As of September 2017, VIM-Avia's fleet includes 23 aircraft: 12 Boeing 777s (leased in 2015-2017), four each Airbus A319 and Boeing 757, two Airbus A330 and one Boeing 767. Average age aircraft - 19 years. In July 2017, the company signed a lease agreement for 15 new Russian MS-21 aircraft.
The base airport is Domodedovo of the Moscow air hub. St. Petersburg is a secondary hub. In total, the company serves about 50 regular destinations.
Indicators
In 2015, VIM-Avia transported about 1 million 613 thousand people. The airline performed 11,414 flights, of which 10,520 were scheduled (over 90%).
In January-August 2017, VIM-Avia transported 1 million 834 thousand passengers (10th place among Russian airlines, an increase of 31% compared to the same period in 2016), the average percentage of occupancy of passenger seats - 76.1% ... The airline ranks 11th in the Russian Federation in terms of cargo and mail transportation (11.7 thousand tons).
The airline's revenue in 2016 was 17 billion 174 million rubles. (an increase of 38% compared to 2015), net profit - 89.1 million rubles. (decrease by 5.7 times).
Management
The general director of the company is Alexander Kochnev.
Owners
Svetlana Mursekaeva owns 99% of VIM-Avia shares, her husband Rashid owns 1%.
