The Russian government plans to invest more than $22 billion by 2020 into developing the infrastructure of its national airports, of which about $2.6 billion will be allocated for the needs of the domestic ground handling industry.
According to an official spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Transport, more than half of these funds are expected to be allocated from the federal budget, while the remaining 40 percent will be provided by private investors.
The allocation of funds for the development of Russian ground handling is an acute need, since the current level of ground handling services provided by local operators remains low. Also, the poor condition of the country's airport infrastructure and the current fleet of GSE throughout the country's domestic airports only adds to the need to make the investment..
"Poor ground handling infrastructure in the majority of Russian airports currently remains a major problem and a major constraint for rapid development of the domestic aviation industry, says Irina Frolova, head of department of ground handling services of Transaero, one of the country’s largest airlines, "This is reflected by the lack of ground handling technologies and equipment at Russian airports. That means that we cannot simply operate in such airports and their base regions. Due to this, airlines, whose fleets are equipped with modern aircrafts, cannot perform flights to many parts of Russia."
In addition to the improvements in airport infrastructure and GSE, the government will also tighten control in the national industry of ground handling. This will take place through the introduction of mandatory certification for ground handling activities in Russia.
According to Mikhail Bulanov, head of the department of aircraft airworthiness maintenance of the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency, currently the Russian ground handling industry suffers from a lack of legal regulation. As a result, there is a need to design new separate aviation standards for the national ground handling industry and to introduce mandatory certification of ground handling services in the country and for all its providers. In addition, Bulanov says there are plans to establish requirements for programs for training of specialists to the industry, as well as to synchronize the requirements of foreign companies and airlines and Russian aviation authorities and local legislation. Last but not least, the domestic regulations should be harmonized with international standards for ground handling services.
COMPREHENSIVE MEASURES
The adoption of such comprehensive measures is, in part, a response to criticism of the industry, which was recently expressed by no less than Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. According to Medvedev, imperfect legislation, as well as the monopoly of existing operators in the field of ground handling remains one of the industry's major problems.
"The level of competition in the national ground handling industry currently remains poor," Medvedev says. "According to our plans, new operators in the field of ground handling will be established. This will ensure fair access for the industry's’ operators to work with airlines and domestic airports."
Medvedev has also said that in contrast to foreign airports, which usually cooperate with several refueling companies, the "situation in Russian airports is completely different."
INCREASING SAFETY
According to an official spokesperson in the Russian Ministry of Transport, the implementation of these state plans in the field of ground handling and the increase of the quality of the provided services is very important since it will increase aviation safety in Russia and potentially avoid new plane crashes, which in recent years has significantly increased.
For example, one of the reasons of a crash of ATR-72 aircraft at Roshchino airport (Tyumen) in 2012 and a similar tragedy of a Boeing 737-500 at Kazan International Airport, was the provision of low-quality ground handling services, according to results of an investigation conducted by the specially established government commission.
As part of the government's plans to improve the situation, Russia will revise its current system of providing for ground handling services and shift from regulatory approval to a notification procedure. Currently, ground service providers in Russia must prove their abilities to provide quality ground handling services and to ensure the safety of those services. This is contrary to the EU and the U.S practice, where the provision of ground handling services takes place on the basis of notification procedure.
According to Bulanov, such a difference between the Russian and EU practices results in the system of double standards in Russia and therefore in the inability of mutual recognition of experts’ certificates, ground handling procedures, as well as the results of audits and checks. comments:
"This results in additional costs for the training of specialists, the growth of the number of audits and inspections, the increase of the volume of paperwork and the inability to use international experience by Russian companies," he explains. "Finally, the costs of the provided services are growing, while their quality is declining."
MAJOR OBSTACLE
In the meantime, a major obstacle in implementing all of these plans is the significant deterioration of relations between Russia and Western countries, which may negatively affect business of many Russian ground handling service providers. Trade wars between Russia from one side and the U.S. and the EU from another, threaten to spread to the Russian aviation industry and, in particular, ground handling services. In response to the recent decision of the EU and the U.S. to impose a ban on the supplies of dual-use products to Russia, the Russian government has already restricted imports of engineering products from Western countries and has not ruled out the possibility imposing other bans, including the imports of GSE.
Due to a series of economic and political crisises in Russia, the country’s GSE production has never fully developed. Currently, the majority of local GSE manufacturers specialize in producing either outdated, equipment designed during the Soviet era or small-scale copies of imported equipment. There are also some market niches where the share of imports reaches 100 percent.
As a result, the Russian ground handling industry remains heavily dependent on foreign GSE. The rise of import duties and the imposition of a complete ban on its supplies may have catastrophic effects on the business of many national ground service providers. Despite recent statements of some Russian top officials and, in particular, Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s first deputy prime-minister that Russian producers of GSE will be able to easily replace importers on the domestic market, the majority of Russian airlines have serious fears that the imposition of mutual sanctions may result in a significant decline of the quality of ground handling services.
About the author: Eugene Gerden is an international free-lance writer, who covering the global aviation and ground support industry. He writes for numerous industry publications and can be reached at [email protected]
