is a private airline that began air transportation in December 1990. The company is one of the top ten in the world in ensuring flight safety.

Source: http:// .pro/blog/aviakompaniya-transaero

History of the Transaero company

The company was founded in 1991 by the son of the USSR Minister of Radio Industry, Alexander Pleshakov, and since 2001 has been managed by his wife Olga.

Between them they own 36.6% of the company, another 3% belongs to Alexander’s mother Tatyana Anodina, chairman (MAK).

Transaero Airlines received the international safety certificate IOSA.

Introduction of the Imperial class on new generation aircraft joining Transaero's fleet - Boeing 777 and Boeing 747-400.

New Transaero flights were launched from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk.

The airline opened 12 new routes across Russia, to the cities of Blagoveshchensk, Irkutsk (it stopped flying in the fall of the same year), Kazan, Kemerovo, Magadan, Magnitogorsk, Novy Urengoy, Omsk, Samara, Ulan-Ude, Ufa, Krasnodar. As of June 2009, Transaero operated 16 flights throughout Russia.

For the first time, Transaero began flights to Mexico - to the famous world resort of Cancun.

Transaero has completely switched to e-ticket, abandoning the paper ticket that has become familiar.

The airline's fleet reached 57 units.

February - the shares of JSC AK Transaero were listed on.

April - official pages of the airline were created in in social networks Facebook, VKontakte and microblog on Twitter.

August - Transaero became the first customer of A320neo aircraft 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 passenger airline double-decker aircraft Airbus A380 in Russia, CIS and Eastern Europe, having signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus. It was announced the acquisition of four aircraft of this type (catalogue value of 1.5 billion euros), the expected delivery date is from the fourth quarter of 2015).

November - the airline was the first in Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe to order 4 747-8 Intercontinental aircraft. Transaero plans to purchase airliners in a four-class configuration with big amount premium class seats.

December - Transaero acquires 4 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The airliners will replace the Boeing 767.

The airline began operating flights from Vnukovo Airport.

The airline began 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 airliners (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 airliners (worth $0.5 billion).

August - Transaero and Virgin Atlantic entered into a code-sharing agreement. In accordance with it, Transaero flights between Moscow and London will have a joint code UN/VS with Virgin Atlantic. At the same time, Virgin flights

In 2013, the company's revenue increased by 16%, net profit by 14%, to 1 billion rubles.

In terms of transportation volume, Transaero is second only to "" - in 2013 the company transported about 12.5 million people. The fleet consists of 103 aircraft, of which 20 are long-haul Boeing 747s.

It is based at Moscow's Vnukovo and Vnukovo airports, also forming an additional hub at St. Petersburg airport. Operates passenger and cargo flights throughout Russia, as well as international flights medium and long distances to the countries of Europe, Asia, North and Latin America.

Transaero service classes
  • Imperial
  • Business
  • Premium class
  • Economy class
  • Tourist class
  • Class "Discount"
Contacts of Transaero airline

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)

According to the 2014 rating, Transaero airline ranked 17th in the world in terms of flight safety and was considered one of the most reliable carriers in Russia. During the entire existence of this brand, not a single human victim was recorded. But, unexpectedly for many, at the end of October 2015, the Federal Air Transport Agency canceled the operator’s certificate, and Transaero was declared bankrupt. The question of where Transaero planes are and critical statements from 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 fleet size and number of passengers, the company ranked second in Russia, and in long-haul aviation it consistently 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 carried out at 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 have moved to Russian Aeroflot, and most of the ships were taken out of service and stored at various airports in Russia and abroad.

Airbus A321-200 (Airbus A321)

Where are Transaero planes today?

There were 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 the 28-year-old Boeing 767-200, and there were only six new aircraft.

After clarifying the circumstances of bankruptcy and decommissioning of the aircraft, the lessors of the aircraft leased a certain number to 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

The Aeroflot group and its member airline Rossiya agreed to help the laid-off employees of the liquidated carrier find employment and lease 34 aircraft for them. After an engineering examination, 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 main components not with new units, but with ones borrowed from another ship. Therefore, often a spare part belonging to one lessor ended up on board belonging to another. Such confusion led to complete chaos and a lack of regulatory documentation on safety and operation. In this regard, Aeroflot is ready to include and service only 25 aircraft.

Boeing 737-700 (Boeing 737-700)

That 75% plus 1 share of Transaero will be bought by Aeroflot for 1 ruble. At the same time, Transaero’s debts, together with leasing contracts, had reached 260 billion rubles by this 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 created, which was involved in the certification of aircraft, airports, development of airworthiness standards and investigation aviation accidents. Its chairman was Tatyana Anodina, the mother of the future general director of Transaero Alexander Pleshakov, and part-time aviation general, former head of the technical department of the Ministry civil aviation THE USSR. “Tatyana Grigorievna knew everything about how the complex air transportation business works. In contrast to the pilots who led hundreds of air squads into which Aeroflot was divided in the 1990s, it is the only air carrier in the USSR,” says Infomost CEO Boris Rybak.

Transaero's first flight took place on November 5, 1991 on a leased Tu-154 on one of the most profitable routes - to Israel. Using the money earned during the year of flights, Transaero purchased its first Il-86 in 1992 and opened the Moscow - Norilsk route.

In 1997, Transaero signed an agreement with Boeing to prepare a contract for the supply of 40 new aircraft. “The company was lucky - it did not manage to buy a single new Boeing. Otherwise, the story of Transaero could have ended when the crisis broke out,” says Alexei Sinitsky, editor-in-chief of the Aviatransport Review magazine. By the 1998 crisis, Transaero had 17 Boeing 737s, the average age of which was more than 20 years.

Back in 1997, Transaero registered the aviation company Transaero, whose board of directors included two representatives of the oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Over the course of 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, Governor Oryol region Egor Stroev. In 2000, the oligarch had to leave Russia, and Stroev helped the company save on taxes: on his order, 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 share in 2005–2006, which, according to Vedomosti, could have cost them 2.5 billion rubles.

The Pleshakovs gained full control of Transaero by 2006. A year earlier, the aircraft fleet was restored to the 1997 level - 17 aircraft. By 2010, their number reached 59. Moreover, by the end of 2009, the airline’s net debt was five times higher than EBITDA. And Transaero showed profit from 2007 to 2015 only once - in 2011. Analysts noticed the first signs of a crisis in Transaero in 2013 - then the company, with a long delay and auditor reservations, published its IFRS reports. “And in 2014, when events began in Ukraine 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 publication’s sources claims that around that time the Pleshakovs first offered to buy out their business for $300 million, a year later reducing the offer to $100 million.

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 received state guarantees for 9 billion rubles of a loan 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 the publication's sources, the fate of the company had already been decided. “But creditors and the government were afraid to immediately take tough measures against Transaero - otherwise half the country would not come back from vacation,” says one of them.

“Shuvalov simply ran out of patience at a certain point,” says the federal official and notes that no one in the government or state-owned 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 transferred the passengers to Aeroflot; only this company would have enough capacity to transport such a number of people.

“I think that for Alexander Petrovich Pleshakov the offer to sell the company for 1 ruble at a government meeting was a surprise. But he stood up and said that if the banks were not otherwise ready to restructure the debts, then he was ready to cede 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 minority co-owner of Transaero Vantsev.

After purchasing a 75.1% stake in Transaero, Aeroflot plans to reduce the acquired airline's fleet of aircraft by 70%, optimize routes and restructure debts.

Pleshakova and Anodina did not respond to Vedomosti’s requests.

Alexander Pleshakov’s condominium in Florida was sold without the businessman’s knowledge.

Information about this deception is contained in MTS Bank's claim for 4.1 billion rubles. to Pleshakov, former first Deputy General Director of Transaero Alexander Krinichansky and the American company Sky Ocean International controlled by Pleshakov - the lawsuit is being considered by the federal court of the Southern District of Florida. Before the bankruptcy that occurred in 2015, Transaero falsified reports, received loans and used them, including for dividends, to Pleshakov and members of his family, MTS Bank told the court and demanded to disclose information about the assets of the defendants. The court satisfied the request, Pleshakov and Krinichansky appealed the decision.

The Sky Ocean company owned a condominium in Riviera Beach (Florida; purchased in 2010 for Pleshakov at his choice) at the Ritz Carlton hotel, according to court documents. The president of Sky Ocean was Russian lawyer Sergei Linkov, an old friend of Pleshakov and his personal adviser in 1998-2013, listed in the case file. Sky Ocean was 100% owned by Sky Stream from the British Virgin Islands, its owners and directors were Linkov and his wife.

In August 2013, Pleshakov filed a lawsuit in the High Court of the British Virgin Islands demanding the transfer of ownership of Sky Stream to him and the dismissal of Linkov and his wife, and won the case in November 2014. And Linkov, without waiting for a court decision, sold it in July 2014 without Pleshakov was aware of a condominium in Florida for $4.3 million, after taxes, the income was $4.07 million. But only $480,000 from this transaction remained in Sky Ocean’s accounts; Linkov spent $3.6 million on himself, according to the court materials.

“In the US, the practice of nominee ownership is rare; this service is provided by specialized companies; unauthorized actions with assets are very rare. Business owners who do not want to take on the risks of a shareholder usually transfer assets to a trust, the terms of which describe the rights of the creator and protector of the trust,” says Debevoise & Plimpton partner Alan Kartashkin.

Pleshakov needed a nominal owner to deceive the minority shareholders of Transaero, it follows from the court materials: in 2005, he, his wife and mother, controlled 38% of Transaero and wanted to buy more shares, but avoid the offer. On Linkov’s advice, he created and registered Sky Stream for him, and she bought 19.9%. And Linkov registered Sky Ocean specifically for the purchase of a condominium.

In March 2015, already under the control of Pleshakov, Sky Ocean filed a lawsuit against Linkov in the court of the 15th District of Florida to recover $10.9 million (triple damages, permissible under Florida law). There is no data on the outcome of the trial in the court database. A representative of MTS Bank declined to comment.

Linkov lives in Germany, in the commune of Heiligkreuzsteinach in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It was not possible to contact him. “Decisions of American courts that are not subject to challenge in the United States are usually enforced in Germany, but after recognition by a German court. This procedure can take several months, the German court must be satisfied that the decision of the Florida court was fair, for example that the defendant was notified and the decision does not provide for double or triple damages,” says Thomas Schurle, managing partner of the Frankfurt office of Debevoise & Plimpton .

Runaways

Alexander Pleshakov and his wife Olga left Russia at the end of 2015. Pleshakov admitted to the American court that he lives in Azerbaijan and the countries of the European Union. The Pleshakovs have Azerbaijani passports, creditor Transaero assures.

This Monday can be considered the day of the final death of the company "". At midnight on October 26, the carrier's air operator certificate ceased to be valid, and previously announced that it would cancel this document. Transaero planes will no longer take to the skies.

Created in 1990, Transaero became the first private airline in Russia. It was founded in 1990 by the son of the USSR Minister of Radio Industry, Colonel General Pyotr Pleshakov, and Tatyana Anodina, chairman of the Interstate Aviation Committee. The company began 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 plane was leased, but was already flying under the UN company’s own 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 J. Schrage.


It was Transaero that was the first in Russian civil aviation to purchase foreign-made aircraft and equip its fleet with them. Since 1993, the company has established regular Passenger Transportation on domestic and foreign routes. In the same year, the airline launched the first regular international flights Moscow - Kyiv, Moscow - Alma-Ata, Moscow - Tel Aviv. In the photo - Boeing 737, which since 1996 has flown 3 times a week on the route Moscow - Chisinau - Moscow.


In 1993, Transaero became the first Russian airlines, offering business class services on domestic flights. In the photo - employees of Transaero airlines are inviting you on a flight.


Alexander Pleshakov - worked in the company from the founding of the company until 2015. During the existence of Transaero, he held the positions of president, general director, and chairman of the board of directors of the company. Before founding the company, he worked as a designer at the Moscow Machine-Building Plant "Speed" and was an expert at the International Commercial Directorate 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. Between them, Alexander and Olga Pleshakov owned 36.6% of the company, and Alexander’s mother Tatyana Anodina owned another 3%.

In 2005, Transaero became 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 Tu-204C cargo aircraft. In 2006, the company was re-registered in St. Petersburg.


In 2009, Transaero became the first Russian airline to begin providing first-class services on domestic Russian routes and is one of the ten largest global air carriers on tourism and leisure routes.


Since 2010, Transaero has been at the peak of success. This year it is opening more than 20 new regular flight routes, including flights Moscow - Beijing, Moscow - New York, Moscow - Miami. In 2011, the company's profit increased more than 3 times compared to 2010 - to 1.83 billion rubles, and in 2012 it continued 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, and the airline’s fleet increased more than 8 times. In 2012, Olga Pleshakova was the most influential woman in Russian business, and Transaero was the first Russian airline to receive the World Airline Awards, established by the Skytrax agency, in the global category “Airline of the World that has made the greatest progress.” In 2013, the company’s net profit amounted to 788.38 million rubles,


In 2014, the first alarm bell rang: the company began to experience its first financial difficulties amid a strong decline in passenger traffic, which was caused by the emerging financial crisis. At the end of December, Transaero received government guarantees for a loan worth 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. Regarding assistance to the carrier, the Deputy Chairman of the Government stated that the difficult financial situation of the company and “the government’s lack of a clear understanding 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 a 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 government guarantees at the end of 2014. Transaero has already received 9 billion rubles and is in line for 40 billion to 70 billion rubles in state guarantees. Where did they spend 9 billion? For dumping,” said the general director of Aeroflot.