The choice of my profession was predetermined from childhood: my father was a pilot. At that time, many peers dreamed of aviation, and I - to everyone's envy - could always go with my dad to the airport or get inside the plane.
Immediately after school, I entered the Kiev Institute of Civil Aviation Engineers. At that time, it was the only university in the country that trained flight engineers for the TU-154. After studying, I worked for five years by profession: first as a flight engineer in the Aeroflot division in Karaganda, then I accepted the offer to work as a representative of one of the Kazakhstan airlines in Germany. But in 2000, my flight career ended. The earth began: first, in the passenger transportation department at East Line, and two years later went into business aviation, where he grew up to the VIP transportation manager at Aviaenergo airline. And in May 2005, he opened his business with his colleague Dmitry Akhmedov.
How the market works
There are aviation brokers in the market who manage private aircraft. Our company is among them. Some owners of business jets give us their planes for management: the owner makes flights two to three times a month, the rest of the time the aircraft is leased. At the client’s request, we can also arrange flights on business jets of airlines or our market colleagues operating aircraft.
Business jets are usually based at Moscow airports. Most of them are in Vnukovo, followed by the number of Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Ostafyevo. But there are cases when airplanes are parked at European airports - in Riga or Helsinki. This is due to the fact that the cost of basing abroad is cheaper. And if the owner of the plane does not fly on it very often, it’s cheaper to fly from Europe than to pay for basing and maintenance at our airports.
There are now about a hundred companies in the business aviation market. There are about fifteen major players. The rest are small firms accompanying a couple of clients. According to our statistics, 70% of customers in the market are corporations.
Since their employees mainly fly on business trips, everyone promotes their services with the usual marketing tools - online advertising and active sales.
Flight cost Depends on the supplier, route, customer and other factors. Average check
- 30-40 thousand euros
We act as brokers and take only a commission; flights and fuel surcharges are paid separately. Profit in our business is not very high: margin of about 4-5%. So, from each flight about 1,000–
1,500 euros. The cost of the flight depends on the supplier, route, customer and other factors. The average bill is 30-40 thousand euros. Of the total cost of the flight, about 30–35% of the airline will spend on kerosene, 17–20% on fees at airports, 1–2% on air navigation services in the area of \u200b\u200bairports and along the flight route, 15–17% on on-board meals, 10– 12% - for the salary of the crew. The rest falls on the liner's operating costs, office rent and other related expenses.
The most requested direction for today is Moscow - London. Next up are European cities such as Geneva and Nice. Sochi is gaining popularity in Russia: perhaps this was due to the Olympics.
How to order a plane
We work only with Russian customers. There were a couple of orders from foreigners, but these are isolated cases. When a call comes from a client, we immediately specify the route, date, time, number of passengers and baggage. We also find out nutritional preferences. Say, if a person prefers food of a certain restaurant, then our courier can deliver it to departure. True, a catering company usually does this. In addition, the interior color is negotiated with the client.
After the manager begins to look for a suitable plane. We do not cooperate with any specific airlines, but work with everyone. The main thing is that they have the right vessel. Our employee can call, request by e-mail or in a special program. All information is recorded and analyzed. We take into account the best price, year of manufacture of the aircraft, reliability of the partner airline. As a result, we offer the client a choice of 5-10 options. Usually the people who call us don’t know which model they want. And our job is to explain it to him.
Most often asked for Challenger, he is widely heard. But such a choice is not always justified. There are customers who know the brand and want it. It all depends on status and finances. If the level of the minister, his deputy, then they initially will not fly on an inexpensive plane, this will be from Challenger and higher. Global 6000 - the most popular aircraft among the elite. Boeing or Airbus-based business jets are rarely ordered. They differ not only in the luxury of the cabin, but also in spaciousness: if usually 160–170 people are placed in such an airplane, then for private flights it will be converted into 19 seats. Most often, such owners fly their planes; airlines do not buy such.
They are reluctant to lease them out; the owner will not give them to a stranger. Therefore, you have to connect the connection. One of the most popular and affordable business jets is Cessna. Often customers fly on Hawker airplanes, but it’s already a little more expensive. We fly by helicopter. But their popularity is not so great, they occupy less than 5% of the total number of our flights.
The minimum time for which we can arrange a flight is four hours after the customer said: “Yes, I agree to fly.” The most crucial moment comes when the flight is confirmed, bills are issued and paid.
From this moment, work begins on the preparation and execution of the flight, most of which falls on the airline. They apply for a flight to the airport of departure and arrival, receive permission to fly over a particular state. Our role is to communicate with the client and quickly receive from him all the necessary information.
All personnel on board are airline employees. Previously, it was customary to send a flight manager on a flight, who monitored the comfort of customers. At that time, business jets converted from Soviet aircraft were popular, there was a lot of space. In addition, the airlines were a little wild, you had to look after them. Now on small business jets an extra person is uncomfortable. And the level of airlines has also become much higher.
Who flies on business jets
Customers are constantly changing. Now we do not have any of the clients that were in the beginning. The reasons for all are different, but mostly businessmen buy a plane and fly on their own. Or they decide that it makes no sense for them to spend money on brokers, and they take an employee to the staff who will organize the flights.
Recently we have there was a client who applied for the flight in a fur coat on a naked body, and during the flight broke the table on the plane
We had different cases. At the dawn of business aviation, drunk men from the bathhouse could call at night with a request: “And let's fly to Ust-Kamenogorsk tomorrow.” But this usually does not end there. Now we work at night when a flight flies at this time. You need to be in touch to control everything.
Recently, we had a client who applied for a flight in a fur coat on his naked body, and during the flight broke a table in an airplane. I had to compensate spoilage from my own pocket and pay the airline a thousand dollars. There was a client who could order a flight Moscow - St. Petersburg for 10-12 thousand dollars and at the same time convince us that we should not order on-board meals in any case. And come on a flight with a checkered string bag, in which juice and some other provisions. A couple of times we took dogs for mating across Russia.
The manager always warns in advance about the amount of luggage. But we often hear: "There are two of us, and the cabin is for ten, let's bring the remaining suitcases into it." This is contrary to aviation regulations, which the captain will not allow to violate. Because if an emergency landing occurs, the crew must evacuate everyone in 90 seconds, and if the cabin is littered with boxes and suitcases, then they can crush someone during an emergency landing or simply get in the way.
Of course, you can’t cancel the client’s request, but he’ll fit in. “What if” we had recently. The client flew out of Italy. The size of the trunk was warned. But the flight showed up with boxes of products and was very surprised why he was not allowed into the cabin with them. I had to leave something from the contents of his suitcases. This is a fairly common case: choose a plane with a small luggage compartment, say that four to five people will fly, and bring a half-house of belongings for departure.
How does the crisis affect
On average, we have about ten clients per month. A surge of activity is observed before the New Year, on November or May holidays. Two years ago there were more corporate mass flights. Now there are fewer of them, we have a 50 to 50 sales ratio: business flights and private vacation flights.
Recently, the report of the European agency there was information that recently sales in business aviation fell by 19%. Although we have before the New Year the number of orders increased sharply, despite the crisis period. Either people wanted to close ruble budgets, or we talked with those whom the crisis did not significantly affect. Of course, we will also notice a reduction: a decline of 15 to 50% can be easy.
Business aviation is in difficult times during the crisis. But despite the difficulties, many companies continue their activities and even make plans for the future. As it turned out, the Russian business transportation market, unlike commercial aviation, is almost entirely occupied by foreign companies and their regional offices. Top Flight sources report that the number of international and domestic flights flying the flag of foreign airlines (including flights of business jet owners and charter flights) is several times higher than the number operated by Russian carriers.
Active, i.e. open
The business aviation market in Russia is traditionally considered closed: company owners are reluctant to disclose data on the number of flights and passengers carried, as well as the direction of transportation. In addition, business aviation operators are not taken into account in the ratings of the Transport Clearing Company (TCH), since agreements on the publication of passenger transportation information have not been signed between TCH and small airlines.
Despite this, as part of a series of special Top Flight projects, we made an attempt to identify the most active airlines in the business aviation market in Russia. The basis for statistics was the opinions of market participants, information from the carriers themselves and from Top Flight's own sources. The openness of companies and the speed of data provision were also taken into account. Of course, some have so far been left behind, but we hope that in the future such ratings will become not just a “good form”, but an active tool for exploring the Russian business aviation market.
The crisis is over
If in earlier times the industry grew by tens of percent annually, now the number of business aviation charters has decreased by 30-40%, and operator income has dropped by 60%. As the president of Jet Group Alexander Evdokimov notes, while reducing the total number of flights, the number of passengers fell by only 15-20%. But if earlier on a 10-seater airliner flew five of them, recently business jets are loaded much more heavily.
At the same time, passengers often choose smaller aircraft. "Today, the main demand is airliners with a flight hour cost of $ 4-4.5 thousand against the $ 6-8 thousand that were previously claimed. Entrepreneurs began to really count the money, they even agree on the hotels where the pilots live, and their taxi costs ", notes one of the leaders of Jetalliance Sergey Koltovich.
Many agree that it is impossible to stimulate demand by lowering the price, since the share of standing payments is high in the cost of owning an airplane. The owner of the National Reserve Corporation, Alexander Lebedev, clarifies that this amount is approaching $ 5-7 million per year (the entrepreneur himself prefers to fly on a rented airliner). Timur Devyashov, the head of the Russian representative office of Cirrus Group, explains that due to the reduction in the number of charters, the idea of \u200b\u200bdepreciating an aircraft by leasing to third parties has become irrelevant. Only those airliners that are secured by orders of large corporations fly. The annual flight time of aircraft, which could be leased and fly 1 thousand hours a year, now reaches only 200 hours.
In total, in Russia per month, according to our estimates, about 2200-2400 business aircraft flights are operated. According to some reports, approximately 60% of them are operated by foreign companies (including private and commercial flights). However, there are no official statistics on the total number of business aviation flights operated by operators on the Russian market, and the information received from various sources varies greatly.
How did we calculate? It is known that on average the number of business aviation flights a month this year to Vnukovo-3 was 1340. About 70% of business aviation flights account for about 70% of business aviation flights at Vnukovo-3 Moscow Airport, that is, about 1914 business jets and business flights are made in Moscow alone. liners monthly. The second place in terms of business aviation flights belongs to the airport of St. Petersburg - Pulkovo. True, many operators call other Russian cities. Therefore, assuming that Moscow occupies approximately 80% of Russian business transportation, approximately 2,400 flights fall to all of Russia.
By the end of 2009, the business transportation market began to revive. According to the ARG / US research group, already in September 2009, flight activity in the US business aviation sector reached its highest level since October 2008 and not only increased by 2.7% compared with August 2009, but also by 0.4 % increased against the corresponding period of 2008. In Europe, one could also notice how the number of flights from some operators gradually crawled up. For example, in August, the Finnish company Jetflite made up to 14 VIP flights a week only to / from Russia (and about 2/3 of them were in St. Petersburg).
According to Alexander Evdokimov, in Russia the market decline has stopped since the end of August. But they are talking with caution about a speedy recovery. “If there is no economic recession, then the growth of business transportation will begin in March 2010,” he said. The president of Kaskol Group of Companies Sergey Nedoroslev agrees with him (the company participated in two projects in the field of business aviation - Velvet Club and Dexter). According to him, the Dexter project has not less, but even more clients. But Velvet froze its activities.
Dumping specialist
VistaJet, founded in 2004, is one of the major players in the Russian market. Today, this private airline, headquartered in Switzerland, according to experts, occupies a significant share in the international business aviation transportation market in Russia.
In 2008, VistaJet completed the acquisition of the charter division of Bombardier Skyjet International and became the second largest company operating business jets outside of North America. Then VistaJet placed an order for 35 Bombardier business jets with an option for another 25 cars worth $ 1.2 billion. According to the carrier, by 2012 the number of VistaJet aircraft should approach 50-75. A solid park is one of the obvious advantages of the operator in the market. Another is prices close to dumping. So, renting a Learjet 60 can cost 3100 euros per hour. "No one below!" - exclaims Evdokimov. All this gives the company the opportunity to make about 100 flights to / from Russia per month.
The return of Aeroflot
One of the notable events of this year on the business aviation market was the announcement of the purchase of Aeroflot Plus by the Austrian business transport operator Jetalliance. The transaction amount is estimated at $ 2 million, for which Jetalliance will receive a 51% stake in Aeroflot subsidiary by the end of 2009. Also, the new owner will have to deal with the company's debt, which exceeds 80 million rubles. The former CEO of Aeroflot Plus Sergey Koltovich will be engaged in the creation of the Russian Jetalliance project. According to him, in the Russian market, the carrier will use 30 aircraft registered in Russia on domestic routes. Prior to this, no one has registered such a number of business-class aircraft in our country.
According to the company’s plans, at least four business jets will be imported by the end of 2010. In order for the purchase to comply with Russian law, Jetalliance will directly own only 49% of the shares, and 2% will belong to a specially created Russian legal entity. Jetalliance says that the Russian market is extremely important for them, since about 30-35% of the company's orders are in Russia and the CIS countries.
Largest foreigners
Despite the decline in revenue, NetJets remains one of the active players in the Russian business transportation market. According to the company itself, the number of flights to / from Russia per year is about 1 thousand, that is, an average of more than 80 flights per month.
NetJets World Park has 47 Hawker 750 / 800XP business jets, 40 Cessna Citation Excel, 27 - Hawker 450, 18 - Cessna Citation Bravo and others. Due to the drop in aircraft rental sales (by 79%) and the low profitability of such transportation operator’s revenue for the nine months of this year fell by about $ 1.5 billion, or 42%. The anti-crisis tool may be the search for new customers, including in Russia, the carrier believes.
Today, out of 6 thousand NetJets customers around the world, about 100 are from our country. “Now the company has only 870 aircraft and 4 thousand pilots who make 300 thousand flights a year,” said Graham Weston, President and CEO of NetJets Europe. At the same time, according to him, over five years of work in Russia at NetJets Europe, they realized that a Russian buyer is an ideal for the development of the company. NetJets Europe has a fleet of 150 aircraft.
About 100 flights a month are carried out by Global Jet Concept, which is not only the owner of the aircraft, but also a major operator of aircraft owned by Russian citizens, which provides it with a high share in the business transportation market.
For nine years, Global Jet Concept has become a leader among private airlines in Europe. The operator operates more than 60 aircraft, such as BBJ, A-318 Elite, Falcon 900 EX, Gulfstream G450 & G200, Falcon 2000, Challenger 604 & 300, etc.
Thus, the first positions in our ranking are occupied by such operators as Vista Jet, NetJets and Global Jet Concept. Major airlines include Finnish Airfix Aviation. According to Top Flight sources, the company operates approximately two flights a day.
The active business aviation operators in Russia include the British company Ocean Sky, known to the general Russian public for the James Bond film Quantum of Solace. The company has existed on the market since 2003 and in six years of its development managed to open offices in London, Manchester, Prestwick, Zurich and Moscow.
Today Ocean Sky is one of the five leading European business aviation operators. In 2008, she received additional financing from shareholders in the amount of 32 million British pounds for the implementation of the aggressive expansion program in 2009 and 2010. The annual turnover of Ocean Sky in 2008 amounted to 90 million euros.
According to the managing director of Ocean Sky in Russia and the CIS, Irakli Litanishvili, the number of international flights on the Russian business aviation market that the company operates on average is 50-60 per month. Of course, in peak seasons, these numbers increase. There are business jets that operate several flights a day, such as, for example, the Challenger 604/605, Gulfstream G550 or Global Express, he adds.
At the same time, Irakli notes that recently the share that Ocean Sky occupies in the Russian market has slightly decreased. "This is due to the fact that the company is currently changing the fleet and reviewing the business model with the participation of new management," he says. Three planes are currently occupied on VIP flights, but by February the number of “commercial” business jets should increase. Another reason for the decrease in the company's transportation volumes is that Ocean Sky has maintained the traditional pricing of VIP flights, remaining one of the most prestigious and expensive VIP carriers on the business aviation market.
The combined company Sky Ocean currently has 32 aircraft, of which slightly more than half are based in England and Dusseldorf, and in Vnukovo, according to Irakli Litanishvili, there are up to 10 aircraft.
“Over the past year, our business model has changed significantly. We have focused on managing the aircraft of the owners. The high level of service and clear control over the operating costs of our own aircraft, which is a priority for Ocean Sky, have significantly expanded our fleet,” emphasizes Irakli.
Domestic jet
Often, the first place among domestic business carriers in the ratings is given to the RusDzhet operator. Perhaps this is true, as it is the largest Russian owner of business aircraft and a management company. In total, RusDzhet has 17 aircraft, which are based at Vnukovo-3 airport, but only 8 Russian (Tu-134 and Yak-42) are leased, and 9 foreign are under the control of the operator. According to Maya Shishko, Commercial Director of the airline, RusDzhet carries out about 100 flights a month, and about 60 of them are international. Russian destinations are mainly represented by Novosibirsk, Surgut and November.
Another active player in the business transportation market is the Jet-2000. According to company representatives, Jet-2000 flies up to 60 flights on average on six planes (not counting the brokerage department), of which about 80% are international. And the most popular aircraft (if we talk about commercial flights) - Hawker 850 XP.
Other air carriers cite more modest numbers, all the more referring to the economic downturn. 2009 was not the most favorable year for business aviation in Russia, according to the Russian airline Barkol: compared with 2008, demand fell by about 30-35%. The average number of flights operated by the Sirius-Aero airline per month is 20-25. Today, there are six aircraft in the operator’s fleet (two Hawker 700/800 business jets (in operation) and four Tu-134 jets). About 10-15 flights a month are carried out on five planes by the airline Cosmos Production Association CJSC, which is part of the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation named after S.P. Queen.
They have everything ahead
According to experts, the crisis did not help clear the business aviation market from small operators and consolidate large ones - on the contrary, crushing became even more noticeable. At the same time, companies traditionally holding substantial shares in foreign markets in Russia are not always so noticeable.
A significant, but not a major operator in the business aviation market of Russia is the Austrian Amira Air GmbH, founded in 2004. The company specializes mainly in flights from its base airport in Vienna. There are seven aircraft in the Amira Air GmbH fleet today. According to company representatives, the Challenger 300 is in great demand among Russian customers. On average, an Austrian operator performs 15-20 flights to / from Russia per month. At the same time, Amira Air GmbH says that in many respects unfavorable economic conditions on the market influenced the formation of the cost of flights and today the correct pricing in 99% of cases is one of the most important guarantees of success.
Arkasair, Turkey, reports that the airline operates approximately 10 flights a month on the big Challenger 604 and the same number on the mid-range business jet Challenger 300, as well as about seven flights on the Learjet 60. However, this year the numbers are slightly lower.
The Russian division of Cirrus Group has recently begun to work less actively in the Russian market. But, according to representatives of the airline, they tried to achieve this effect by dividing large business within the group into a number of small ones. So, Timur Devyashov believes that each carrier should not have more than eight airliners, "and all companies work as part of a group, but are independent." At the moment, the Cirrus Group in Russia is based on two liners (Challenger 300 and Embraer Legacy). The group includes carriers Silver Bird and Egojet. Egojet Airlines operates primarily in the Russian market and unites many direct customers. On average, a group makes one flight per day in Russia. Its clients are 150 individuals and 10 corporations.
The subsidiary of the German carrier Lufthansa, Lufthansa Private Jet (LPJ), sold 20 flights from / to Russia in 2009. But do not forget that this is not the main activity of the carrier.
If in 2008 the company sold NetJets partner flights, now, having received seven Cessna planes, it offers its own charters. According to Ronald Schulz, Lufthansa Regional Director for Russia and the CIS, the company currently has good experience working with Vnukovo and Domodedovo. "The demand of Russian customers for individual transportation Lufthansa Private Jet is stable. We also have several regular customers in Europe who fly to Moscow on business. However, we hope that when the economic situation improves, LPJ will return to its previous growth in Russia, - says Schultz. “This will happen due to increased interest from the regions for direct flights to European airports, or to our hub airports in Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich for further transfer to long-distance flights Lufthansa or SWISS in the passenger compartment the first- class. "
Top most active air carriers in the business aviation market in Russia
| Title | Total number of completed average flights (domestic / international) * on the Russian market per month | % of the total business aviation flights in Russia per month (2400) | The number of aircraft in the park | Year of foundation |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jetalliance | 150 | 6,25% | 31 | 1996 |
| 2 | Vista jet | 100 | 4,1% | 23 | 2004 |
| Global jet concept | 100 | 4,1% | More than 60 | 1999 |
|
| RusDzhet | 100 | 4,1% | 17 | 2006 |
|
| 3 | Netjets | 84 | 3,5% | 150 (in Europe) | 1996 (works in Russia since 2004) |
| 4 | Jet 2000 | 60 | 2,5% | 6 | 1999 |
| Airfix Aviation ** | 60 | 2,5% | 6 | n / a |
|
| 5 | Ocean sky | 55 | 2,3% | 32 | 2003 |
| 6 | Group of companies "Premier" | 35 | 1,45% | 7 | 2006 |
| 7 | Cirrus group | 30 | 1,25% | 46 (including regional aircraft and those in the control of a / k) | References
Small aircraft, ultralight aviation, private aviation - these are all terms of one concept. All of them mean aircraft, which in mass, power, type of engine and passenger capacity are similar to cars. Small aircraft - this is primarily a single or double aircraft, a light helicopter for 4 passengers and this category includes gyroplane. The main task of this category of transport is the personal transportation of a person.
What is small aircraft?
Private aviation takes over the world. Familiar aluminum in the frame of lethal vehicles was replaced by composites of high-tech carbon materials. Small aircraft are made from a carbon film, which is somewhat reminiscent of polyethylene, folding the film in many layers. Ultimately, the skin of the aircraft resembles a cocoon in some way. The plane becomes much lighter, which saves a lot on fuel, and this, in turn, greatly reduces the cost of transportation.
About 90% of all aircraft on earth operate in small aircraft, almost all of them are classified as flights of small aircraft. For example, in the United States, about 250 thousand private aircraft are used. 5400 runways, hangars, and much more are specially allocated for them. The total annual income from such aircraft is about $ 50 billion.
Some European countries (Ireland, England and Germany) provide an opportunity, after receiving a private pilot’s document, after a while, if desired, can fly a liner. Many programmers, teachers, doctors and others, are just linear pilots.
Small aircraft in Russia
In Russia, the term "private aviation" is not defined by GOST, but at the same time, it is taken into account that aircraft with a thrust of up to 500 kgf can be considered small aircraft. At the same time, the number of passengers should not exceed 19 people. As for helicopters, their indicators of kgf, for small aircraft, are in the range of 500-4500 kgf, and drones can have traction up to 8600 kgf. For convenience, many small companies prefer private flights and business trips through private aviation.
Airplane
The most popular private aircraft in the Russian Federation are the Yak-52 and L-29. The cost of flights as a passenger is, respectively, 150 and 400-600 dollars per hour of flight.
The Yak-52 is a sports aircraft, for training, a monoplane with an air-beneficial low wing. The length of the aircraft is approximately 7.7 meters, the wingspan is about 10 m. The weight of an empty aircraft is 1000 kg, and of a loaded one - up to 1200 kg. The plane is double.
L-29 is also a training aircraft, with a crew for two, a wingspan and a length of about 10 meters. The empty weight of the L-29 is 2200 kg.
Today, Cessna 172 and Yak-18 are popular. The cost of the Cessna 172 at the moment is about 1,500,000 rubles, and the Yak-18 will cost 2,200,000 rubles.
Helicopter
In addition to airplanes, you can also indulge yourself with an American-made Robinson helicopter, but it will cost 600-700 thousand dollars, and the Mi-34 - $ 400,000. An ultralight Sigma aircraft, a Russian-made aircraft that has fairly good quality and economy, now costs about 55,000 euros, but if you need a six-seat Eclipse aircraft to transport business partners or just a sightseeing flight, you will have to pay at least 1.6 million dollars, not including fuel.
Autogyro
The gyroplane is an easy platform for transportation, which, with a weight of only 40 kg, is capable of speeds up to 180-200 km \\ hour due to power up to 140 hp Speed \u200b\u200bis provided by the lightweight ROTAX 793 water-cooled engine. The device looks like a helicopter, has a closed cockpit, and the aircraft itself can be modified, as an option - change the engine. Autogyros take off from a run of 10-50 meters. Due to the bearing rotor, the lifting force is quite substantial and, unlike a helicopter, the screw is directed against movement, assuming the role of a wing with a positive angle of attack. There are several options for the screw engine, but the diameter of the screw will not depend on this, the engine will simply affect the load capacity. This compact device can land anywhere in Russia because of the small size, and the cost of the device is such that it can not even be bought by a rich person.
Paralets and hang-gliders
A paralet and a deltalet are approximately similar designs, the main part where the pilot and engine are located are the same for both aircraft, the cart welded from pipes, with the pilot seat and wheels mounted, the motor and controls mounted on it. An air screw is attached to the motor, which drives the entire structure in mid-air. The frame itself in flight rests, either on a semi-rigid deltoid wing, which consists of a frame of duralumin tubes covered with an airtight material, or on a frameless wing - a parachute. Paralet and deltalet is a structurally elementary tool for flying. The peculiarity of these aircraft is easy disassembly, packaging and low volume when folded, as well as low weight, making them picky about take-off and landing surfaces, storage and maintenance. In fact, an ordinary garage is enough for servicing and storing paralets and hang-gliders.
Today, many design bureaus work in the field of ultralight aviation. Russia has a whole base and is already prepared to facilitate the introduction and development of small aircraft in the country. This base was created on the basis of the Samara Aerospace University. Graduates of SSAU have formed the advanced aviation sector in the Samara Region - Aerosamara Design Bureau (a former student aircraft design bureau of SKB LA SGAU), they create and assemble unique devices in their own production.
LA design
For registration of the aircraft, you must obtain a permit and license for the operation of the aircraft. The cost of paperwork costs about 1 million rubles, in addition, you will have to wait from a month to a year for a full clearance. The certificate is issued after passing all that there are no authorities for 2-5 years. After that, the vessel should be re-registered again, going through a new one.
In the USA, for example, a helicopter can be issued in 2-3 days, without subsequent re-issuance.
Private Vehicle Flights
Modern flights in Russia
At the moment, it is possible to avoid traffic jams in Moscow by ordering your own personal small plane. Formally, there are no restrictions for the design of a personal aircraft in any civilian aviation organization. At the moment, in Russia there is no way to buy an aircraft, as in a car dealership, but all this can be done through intermediaries. Domestic aircraft are not expensive, but inferior in quality and reliability to foreign equipment. The best aircraft in Russia for private transportation are A-33, L-42, LA-8 and Su-31. Due to the high cost of certification.
The next important question: how can you get the necessary quality service and maintenance at the airport?
In Russia, the infrastructure is still poorly developed, it is much inferior to world standards. The personnel crisis in aviation, the small number of landfills, the lack of necessary additional spare parts and the weakness of DOSAAF have a bad effect on the development of private aviation.
Flights to the EU and the USA
In Europe and the United States, light or small aircraft are perceived as commonplace as car crossings. You get rights, a license, go through technical inspection, check gasoline, buy a card and you can fly on business, or just like that, for a vacation. Before departure, it is necessary to inform the pilot of the meteorological situation, make an entry in the aerodrome logbook from which the flight takes place, record and inform the destination, after which you can safely fly.
In Europe and the USA, flights are becoming more accessible, the number of flights is growing, along with this, interest in the business in which investors invest their money is growing. The main customers of small aircraft are middle-class people, and not just the upper strata of the population. The annual turnover of the United States with only small aircraft is about 80% of all air travel.
Small aviation in Europe and the United States is the training of professional aviation couriers. Each person’s aviation history is erased and not saved at all, in addition, no one pays any taxes for flights. If we take, for example, Lithuania and Belarus, then these countries have recently switched to the European level of small aviation. Thanks to European standards, private aviation there began to develop in full swing.
It is believed that a pilot pilot project of a progressive legal framework and low-aviation nodes that realize the possibility of developing small aircraft in the Russian Federation, at least in several large cities, is needed.
How to fly to the EU
One of the special schools in Ireland, which was organized by businessmen, has 6 employees. This school is preparing the theoretical and practical base of aviation flights. Some of the people can learn flights using the Internet or purchased special books, especially if they have completed high-quality training in college. The system of theoretical training is almost the same as in the physics department. Freedom of travel, rigidity of requirements and exams will make it possible to discover the sky after passing the exams.
Personal, elite schools of higher flight training in the United States train both linear pilots and liner pilots, who use them to transport goods and passengers on Airbus or Boeing. Becoming a line pilot is now quite simple. Having received a document certifying a person as a private pilot, there is an opportunity to fly “hours” for personal purposes and then get the opportunity to increase your flight time to 200 hours. After passing the exams, there is always the opportunity to take the right to work as an instructor in an aviation club.
From this moment on, you don’t have to spend your own money on preparing and flying hours. If an interested pilot flies for 500 hours, then he may even become a commercial pilot. If desired, you can pass exams for piloting aircraft with a large crew and become the second pilot of the airliner. All this can easily be achieved by combining any profession with air travel and moving in parallel along two career ladders. Dozens and hundreds of doctors, programmers, scientists and teachers have the ability to control small or even large aircraft, businessmen or diplomats, more often than not, prefer private flights on small planes and helicopters.
The realities of flying in small aircraft in the Russian Federation, the training of ordinary citizens in the management of aircraft
Illusory lightness. A flight, only for acquaintance, with an instructor, for 20-30 minutes, which includes only basic information, costs at least 5000 rubles. You can save on the first flight using special coupons or on promotions. The student will not be given the wheel at once, the minimum that the instructor will allow him to do is to hold the helm in his hands. Many people want to experience this feeling a second time. For this and the calculation, so that the client gets into the excitement and wants to continue training again, in order to learn how to fly the plane himself. Those who are “hooked” on flights have to pay a lot, especially at the flight training stage.
Amateur aviation is not cheap. At nearby Moscow airfields, at least 8-10 thousand rubles are taken per hour of flight. In most aviation clubs, the cost of an hour of flight depends on many factors, for example, the model of the aircraft, the flight of the aircraft for the entire period of operation, and so on. The cost of the flight is reduced when paying immediately for several hours of flight time.
A small video of the training of pilots of civil aviation, it is no different, except for the type of aircraft, from the training of pilots of small aircraft.
For example, in ChelAvia, where they fly only on Italian Tecnam aircraft, the cost of a flight hour for paying for the entire practice (42 hours) is about 8-9 thousand rubles, but for a fee of 10 hours or more - 9 thousand rubles in an hour. No one will let a rookie into the sky, including with an instructor, even for an hour. The maximum time for a beginner's flight is about an hour, and the calculation of the cost of the flight is per minute.
A beginner can sit at the helm of an aircraft only after 15 hours of flight with an instructor - these are the rules. In fact, this can happen much later, due to poor customer training. Independent flight of the trainee is allowed only a year after the start of training, when the instructor will be confident in the knowledge and skills of his student. Approximately the same amount of time is taken by driving a car in a driving school.
Without an amateur pilot’s certificate, flying is permitted only on routes or over the airfield. On routes, flights are permitted only accompanied by an instructor - again, a similar example with driving a car. To become a full-fledged pilot, you must undergo training, pass an exam and get a PPL pilot’s certificate. The main thing in training is the theoretical part, the knowledge of aerodynamics, aeronautical meteorology, the design of an aircraft, radio communication and the subject of aircraft navigation. The total cost of the course in Moscow costs about 300,000 rubles. In addition, you can experience vertical take-off on yourself, both on an airplane and in a helicopter. By itself, the helicopter eats a lot of fuel, at least 50 liters per hour, which is 5 times more than light aircraft. For this reason, the cost of training even on light and economical helicopters can reach a million rubles or more. If you compare the cost of flying in a light airplane and a helicopter, then, for example, in Aviamarket they take 23,000 rubles per hour of flight, but the training course lasts 42 hours, as with other aircraft. After completing the training course, a private pilot certificate is issued.
The peak of popularity of small aircraft falls on 2003-2004, then the wave of interest disappeared a little, and now a new trend of flights using small aircraft has appeared. If in Europe the airspace is very tightly allocated, then in Russia you can fly just for fun, for a hobby, away from air corridors and air bases. The average speed of a regular, simple helicopter, which can be taken after training, is up to 200 km / h, and the horizontal speed of small biplanes is 200-250 km / h, with fuel consumption 5 times lower.
It’s easier to fly an airplane than a helicopter because of the lesser influence of air flow. Helicopters are more suitable for private small transportation, and planes are used more often for entertainment, of course, if it concerns small aircraft, and not a cargo liner. In the countries of the European Union and in the USA, an entire culture of entertainment has developed on the basis of ultralight airplanes. The leader among aerobatics competitions is the Red Bull Air Race, which is held at various venues around the world.
The pace of development of business aviation in Russia and, in particular, in Moscow is so high that it is difficult to compare them with any industry. According to experts, the business flight market is not yet fully saturated, which contributes to the emergence and development of new companies. All business aviation companiesconditionally can be divided into large operators and small. Each has its own niche, its own fleet of aircraft (own or leased), its own layer of customers.
Airlines business aviation: equally Russian and foreign operators
In Moscow, over 50 airlines are currently registered that provide business-class flight services. This is approximately equal to foreign and Russian players. At the same time, it is difficult to say which of the operators is a “pure” carrier (providing exclusively business aviation services). There are only a few such operators, while the rest provide brokerage services for the maximum market coverage and play on the tourist air charter market. The largest market players provide management services (help interested businessmen and companies choose and purchase their own aircraft).
Customers prefer overseas business aircraft
As already mentioned, overseas airlines business aviation have a significant share in the Moscow air charter market. This trend was characteristic during the period when the market began to develop: when domestic carriers with their aircraft converted to business jets did not compete with modern, comfortable, compact and inexpensive foreign jets.
However, recently, the main Russian operators can afford the purchase and lease of foreign-made business aircraft. Knowing the needs of their client, Moscow business aviation companies create the proper level of comfort, gradually expanding the impact.
As for the pricing policy that Moscow operators offer, it can be classified as medium. However, the increasing level of competition, the renewal of the equipment fleet, new approaches to the service, according to experts, will soon come to optimize the cost without affecting the quality.
Business Aviation Companies: Features
The most popular destinations that metropolitan provide airlines business aviation - Flights from Moscow to St. Petersburg, the Far East and the West European part of the continent.
Business class aircraft include airliners whose capacity does not exceed 19 passengers. This is a rather relative concept, since in no country in the world (including Russia) is business aviation regulated and does not have a legal status. All business aviation flights are classified by airports as civil aviation.
Which airline business aviation to choose?
Moscow is the most popular business aviation aircraft On average, they can fly 7-10 thousand kilometers and have a capacity of up to 20 passengers. All popular business jets are of foreign manufacture. Russian aircraft factories can not yet offer a single small aircraft, which could be called a domestic business jet.
However, Moscow operators still use the converted Tu-154, Tu-134, Yak-42 and Yak-40 for flights. Their resource is close to development (it became a few more years), after which you will have to look for an alternative replacement. It should be noted that customers of Moscow business air carriers still prefer to fly on foreign jets. You can list the most famous business aviation aircraft in Moscow. These are Hawker 800, Challendger 604, Global Express XRS, Gulfstream G200 and others.
With all the variety of airlines in the capital, the issue of choosing a suitable carrier remains relevant. Against this background, the operator Charter Tour stands out. The company provides its customers with a profitable choice between Russian and foreign aircraft, has an optimal level of service and fair prices. And ordering a plane from this operator is no more difficult than calling a taxi.