MOSCOW, November 1 (Itar-Tass) —— The Federal Air Transport Service has repealed the license of the Sky Express low cost airline for a decline in the performance, financial and economic indicators. That will have no effect on passengers: Sky Express flies under the flag of the Kuban air carrier – a component of Basel based in Kuban – since this winter. Most of the Sky Express fleet and personnel have been attached to Kuban. Sky Express sources said they were prepared and did their best to prevent any inconveniences for passengers.
“Everything we could do before the closure of the airline was done,” the sources said. In fact, this is the first time in Russia that a large airline stops its activity without scandals. Sky Express was the first low cost airline in Russia. Its passenger traffic stood at 942,300 from January to September 2011. The airline provided regular economy class flights between Moscow, Vladikavkaz, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Krasnodar, Orenburg, Mineralnye Vody, Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg, Sochi and Chelyabinsk.
Also the Service repealed licenses of Smolenskaerotrans (by the air carrier’s application) and the Ryazan air transport company (for violation of certification requirements). The Service holds unplanned verifications of all airlines, which operate domestically made jetliners, after the crash of a Yakovlev Yak-42 plane in Yaroslavl. Licenses of more than ten airlines have been repealed for their failure of certification requirements since late September 2010.