Filev Vladislav Feliksovich children. Space alien Vladislav Filev

Having received Sibir, Filev almost bought Vnukovo Airlines. A controlling stake in the airline was offered by Suleiman Kerimov and Tatevos Surinov, who owned it through Rosaviaconsortium. The united airline could lay claim to more than 40 main main routes out of 150 existing at that time and almost 10% of Russian passengers, Kommersant calculated in 1999. Even before the deal was completed, Filev was appointed general director of Vnukovo Airlines in 1998 and brought his management team to Moscow, but the terms of the sale changed. Surinov and Kerimov reduced the stake being sold to 49%, the Filevs refused and returned to Novosibirsk.

After the failed sale of the airline, Kerimov left Vnukovo Airlines, and Surinov and his partner Ibragim Suleymanov withdrew all the assets of the airline and bankrupted it. All real estate and the aircraft fleet went to the company "Tsentroleasing", which in the early 2000s sold the entire fleet to an unnamed buyer. According to the OneSpotter.com website, all former Vnukovo Airlines aircraft - 17 Tu-154M and 13 Il-86 - in 2001-2003. transferred to the use of "Sibir". According to a person familiar with the terms of the deal, Filev purchased these planes from the co-owner of Domodedovo airport Dmitry Kamenshchik, who got them for debts. Filev met Kamenshchik in the late 1990s, when the owner of Domodedovo flew to Novosibirsk to persuade the co-owner of Sibir to move to his airport. “We paid for the planes with Sberbank bills, which were brought from Novosibirsk in an ordinary suitcase,” recalls Vedomosti’s interlocutor. He does not disclose the purchase amount.

Airplanes alone were not enough; no one believed that Filev would also be given Vnukovo Airlines licenses. The head of the Federal Air Transport Agency, Alexander Neradko, helped out the co-owners of Sibir. “He took an unprecedented step. He agreed to give the routes to Sibir on the condition that all debts of Vnukovo Airlines to state-owned enterprises were repaid,” recalls Filev’s acquaintance. The airline's accounts payable at that time were estimated at 600 million - 1 billion rubles. “The Filevs received the routes, and then repaid the debts for eight long years,” he continues.

With the planes and routes of the bankrupt Vnukovo Airlines, Siberia by the end of 2002 took first place in transportation within Russia, the company noted in its annual report.

In 2004, Filev almost bought from Kamenshchik 12 more Il-62s and three Il-96s, previously owned by Domodedovo Airlines. These aircraft, according to the Accounts Chamber, were withdrawn from the airline in 2002–2003. Domodedovo Airlines paid its debts to Domodedovo Airport with promissory notes, which were later repaid by plane, auditors found. As a result, two Cypriot offshore companies – Orleston Trading and Leadhills Investments – became the owners of the aircraft. Kamenshchik's East Line group denied any involvement in the deal; according to its representative, the bills were sold to third-party entities. But at a minimum, Orleston Trading could be related to the structures of the Mason. Court documents say that part of the former Domodedovo Airlines fleet was leased from an offshore company by Kamenshchik's East Line airline.

However, the deal still did not take place. The planes were purchased by Boris Abramovich's KrasAir.

From Kamenshchik, the Filevys later, in 2011, bought out the Domodedovo Certification Center, Domodedovo Technik and ATB Domodedovo, on the basis of which the Domodedovo branch of their technical service base was created.

The failed purchase of aircraft was not the only trouble that the Filevs encountered in 2004. “2003 was a brilliant year, and in 2004, a plane near Sibir was blown up,” recalls an acquaintance of Natalya Fileva. Then two female suicide bombers blew up the Tu-154 Siberia and the Tu-134 Volga-Aviaexpress.

According to Vedomosti’s interlocutor, each such tragedy caused about $100 million in losses for the airline. “These are insurance payments to people, crew, a large outflow of passengers,” says an acquaintance of the co-owner of Sibir. In total, the airline had three such incidents. In 2001, during an exercise, Ukrainian air defenses shot down a Tu-154 Sibir flying from Tel Aviv to Novosibirsk. In 2006, the A310 Sibir in Irkutsk skidded off the runway and crashed into garages. Of the 203 people on board, 125 died. Losses from the tragedy amounted to $120 million.

In May 2013, the Filevs bought out a state-owned 25.5% stake in Sibir at auction, increasing their stake in the company to 94.8%. The company acquired a blocking stake for RUB 1.33 billion. – by 11 million rubles. above the starting minimum price. The organizer of the sale was Alfa Bank, at that time the largest creditor of Sibir. In addition to the airline itself, applications for participation in the auction were submitted by the consortium of Eurofinance-Real Estate and Fund Strategic Initiatives, controlled by Filev’s army friends.

Vladislav Filev

founder of S7 Airlines

S7 Airlines 25 years on domestic and international flights
Fleet size - 64 ships
Passengers in 2016 - 13.1 million people
Flight geography - 172 destinations in 28 countries

Other assets Globus Airlines
S7 Training Center
Technical holding "Engineering"
"S7 space transport systems"
"S7 Service" and others

“We are professionals in our niche. If only large enterprises remain, it will be like a forest without grass. There must be corporations, large companies, small businesses and private businesses. Otherwise the balance will be upset.”

We inherited a huge country, history and resources that we lost

- Hello, Vladislav! I didn’t come empty-handed, I brought you our joint S7 Airlines Tinkoff Black Edition card. Congratulations!

Hello! Thank you.

- Tell us about yourself: where were you born, where did you serve?

I was born into a military family on Sakhalin. My father was often transferred to serve: to Ukraine, Moscow, Siberia. We went with him. I studied at the Academy of the Military Space Forces. Served as an officer in the Strategic Missile Forces.

And just yesterday I spoke to the students of Baumanka. Before the performance, I met with rector Anatoly Alexandrov. He told me about our Korolev and Tupolev. I asked about rockets, and he replied that our RD-272 is a perfect engine. There is no need to do anything new, because you can fly with peace of mind for another 50 years. He convinced me that Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos do marketing and it’s all empty.

No, these American entrepreneurs are wonderful guys. And the way they approached the development of new technologies is great. They learned to do it much cheaper than us.

- By the way, tell us about your space project? We read everything in the newspapers, but I want to hear the truth from you.

You will not believe. This is not a fashion statement, I'm going to make money. We bought a floating spaceport and launch vehicles. The missiles were developed back in Soviet times. Yes, Musk recently created a new rocket, but ours has been working perfectly for 40 years.

We will not change the design yet, but we will work on improving the fuel. Yes, in the future we will make a qualitatively new product, a new generation. It’s like in the army there are two soldiers of the same level of training, but one has an old generation weapon, and the other has a new one. The one armed with the old one has no chance of defeating the one with the new weapon.

- Such a revolutionary change.

Yes. In the next 15 years there will be a revolution in space aviation. Imagine if this becomes available and we can fly to the moon and watch ballet there.

- Flying to the moon is cool. I don't understand the space tourism that Richard Branson is proposing. For 200 thousand dollars, people fly into the stratosphere, spin there and return to Earth. I don't believe Branson, he's a dreamer. And Musk is generally an adventurer. I only believe in Bezos, he is a strong manager.

But Elon Musk made a cool rocket. I just bought the launch pad for now. When we make the rocket, we'll see. Or maybe it will just be a platform for other missiles. Elon gathered people and knowledge around him and made a cool product.

Probably not. What we have now is the result of what people like us have done. Yes, you made an excellent product - a bank. Yes, my wife and I made an airline. But in general, it was not possible to create a country in which it would be a rule to create success.

- In the nineties it was easier for us than for our parents. We were young and took risks. I remember how all my relatives condemned me when I started trading: “You will be jailed, you are a speculator.”

I remember my dad came to Novosibirsk to see me. I was already the director of Siberia Airlines and showed him what I had done, what I had achieved in a fairly short period. He walked and looked. At home in the evening, my wife fried us some potatoes and poured us a glass. He drank and said: “Well, yes, you’ve done a lot, but what are you doing with the surplus value? Are you appropriating? Yes, it was difficult for our parents to accept entrepreneurship.

Competition should be healthy, not destroy the enemy

- People often ask me: “What is it to be an entrepreneur?” I say, “This is risk tolerance.” You always take risks and you have to accept it.

I disagree about risk tolerance. You know, there are two big types of entrepreneurs: warriors and soldiers. You are a typical warrior. For you, risks are a way of life. And I’m a soldier: if I can avoid taking risks, I won’t take them.

It's hard to say whether I'm a warrior or not. I’ve been doing one thing for 11 years now and I’m focused only on it. Although many people think that I am not serious at all. You and I are similar and compete with monopolists and giants: I am second in credit cards in the country after Sberbank. Your S7 is the second successful air carrier in the country. You compete only with Aeroflot. How do you manage to survive in competition and what are your plans next?

I approach competition differently. Competition has now gone beyond domestic competition. Peoples and formations of countries are already competing. Competition should be healthy, not destroy the enemy. We must spur each other on.

It is necessary that different types of enterprises, different types of business be represented in the country. There are huge banks that are engaged in attracting huge capital and investment in infrastructure projects. There are banks that work with medium-sized enterprises. There are banks for private individuals. These are all different types of business.

Just like airlines. There are airlines that fly long distances that have special competencies for this. We have practically no long-haul aircraft for this. And for Aeroflot this is a serious part of its business.

We have our own niche in which we feel professional. This is important because if only large enterprises remain, it will be like a forest without grass. Yes, there should be huge trees, smaller trees, very small bushes, grass, moss, humus. Otherwise the balance will be upset. In that same forest the balance would be upset and he would die as a result.

- But still, why don’t you do long-haul flights?

This is a different business with a different technology, psychotype and economy. Flying for three hours and flying for fourteen hours is different.

Here you are playing football or tennis. There is a ball here and there. The difference is in the size of the ball, in its weight, in the way you kick or throw it. It’s the same in long-range aviation: it’s just a different job and qualifications. We are highly qualified in our niche, we primarily fly medium distances. We are developing it and we like it.

Vladislav Filev is a Russian entrepreneur, founder of S7 Airlines. In 1985-1993 he served in the Strategic Missile Forces as a military engineer. From 1993 to 1996 - Deputy Director of CJSC Metalist in Novosibirsk. In 1997 he became chairman of the board of directors of Siberia Airlines. In 1999 he worked as general director of Vnukovo Airlines. From 2009 to 2016 - General Director of CJSC S7 Group of Companies. In 2016, he created Charlie Airlines in Cyprus and bought the Sea Launch cosmodrome in the port of Long Beach in the USA. In the same year, he became chairman of the board of directors of the S7 Training training center, S7 Service and S7 Cargo. Married, three children.

Date of Birth: August 31, 1963
Education: Military Engineering Red Banner Institute named after A.F. Mozhaisky (St. Petersburg)
Equity: 108.11 billion rubles (turnover of S7 Airlines in 2016)

Existing education does not teach a person, but gives the opportunity to learn

- What drives and motivates you to invest in the space program? And what risks were there when you bought Siberia Airlines?

The airline was more of a despair. She owed me money through mutual settlements. I didn't pay, I had to buy it. And then it flew and got stuck.

With space everything is different. It's probably age. What does a five year old want? Become an astronaut. What does a fifteen year old want? Finish school faster and go to college. What does a twenty-year-old want? Finish college faster and go to work. What does he want at thirty? Become a bigger boss. What does a fifty-year-old man want? Become an astronaut.

- It is important to do what you like. You are developing very actively, well done. We like your advertising campaign, you feel the client. That's why we entrusted you with the marketing of the co-branded card. Tell me, what is the secret of the S7's success?

We do what we love. We enjoy it and want to do it in the best way.

Of course, the culture that a company has is important. One day, at the beginning of my career, I walked into one of the workshops. It was dirty and unkempt. And a man of about 60 years old was doing something. I say: “Listen, why is it so dirty? You spend most of your life here.” He: “What do I need? I’ll work, get out, and then I’ll have a different life.”

It’s good when a person works in a place where he wants to bring his family. We can easily have three generations working in our company. I think this is a very great advantage. If a person wants to bring his child, this means a good place. This means that he believes that it is comfortable, pleasant and interesting here.

- Vladislav, you have a whole S7 holding. There is a technical center for pilot training. Tell about him.

Take the kids and come fly! We have a powerful center on which we spent a lot of money. We teach everything ourselves because we want pilots and flight attendants with practical knowledge. The problem is that existing education no longer aims to educate people. It gives opportunity. Therefore, we ourselves train people with a raw education.

Our cadets and people from other airlines study at the center. We prepare everyone according to the standards that we have set for ourselves. It is cheaper to maintain your own center than to send it somewhere to study. And we can control the whole process: we look at who is studying how, and whether they are ready to work with us.

The aircraft is designed to ensure safe operation at all times. And maintenance is needed to make sure everything is in order. However, anything can happen to airplanes. An airplane is an expensive thing, you have to fly a lot. To fly a lot, it needs to be kept in good condition. It is better if we do this work ourselves than to pay someone, even a very well qualified one. We ourselves are quite qualified.

- Our last traditional question. What would you recommend to a young entrepreneur from Novosibirsk? Just imagine, he is 20 years old, he wants to start his own business.

I would recommend not giving up. Henry Ford said: “When it seems like the whole world is against you, remember that airplanes take off against the wind.” If you are an entrepreneur, then almost everything is always against you. The main thing is not to give up. Be ready to continue your work when others have already forgotten, moved on to something else and started pursuing fashionable ideas. If you continue, if you persevere, success will come.

- General Director of CJSC S7 Group of Companies.

Photo: http://viperson.ru/wind.php?ID=6521

Biography of Filev Vladislav

Born in 1963 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk;

Graduated from the Academy of Military Space Forces named after. Mozhaisky (Leningrad) in 1985;

1985-1993 - served in the Strategic Missile Forces, in 1992 he was in a car accident, as a result of which he was forced to resign from the Armed Forces;

1993-1996 - Deputy General Director of the Metallist plant for economics (Novosibirsk);

April-October 1996 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of the investment company OJSC Eurofinance-Novosibirsk;

Since October 1996 - Deputy General Director of OJSC "BoguchanGESstroy" for financial issues, then - for long-term development and planning;

Since 1997, he was a member of the Board of Directors of Siberia Airlines (Novosibirsk) as a representative of Rusinprom-Invest Investment Company;

In March 1998, he was appointed general director of Siberia Airlines; in June 1999, he was appointed part-time general director of Vnukovo Airlines (Moscow), however, he resigned from this post in August;

Since May 2009 - General Director of CJSC "Group of Companies S7".,

Married, has three children.

Achievements of Vladislav Filev

• Member of the Board of Directors of Vnukovo Airlines OJSC;
• Member of the Political Council,
• Member of the Executive Committee of the "Russia" movement (leader - G. Seleznev) since January 2001.

Hobbies of Filev Vladislav

Vladislav Filev enjoys water sports - water skiing and swimming, as well as music. Pilots small aircraft and supports projects in the field of small aviation.

Among those who attended the opening ceremony of the MS-21 model on July 19 were the Filevs. At the same time, Vladislav and Natalia turned out to be the only heads of a large Russian aviation holding company who personally visited a separate pavilion at the Farnborough 2010 exhibition, where a mock-up of the cabin of a promising airliner was located. Aviation EXplorer asked their opinion about this car:

- Could MS-21 appear in the S7 Airlines fleet? Is there any interest in this project or did you visit the stand out of pure curiosity?

Vladislav Filev: I closely monitor what Irkut is doing. I treat its president, Oleg Fedorovich Demchenko, with deep respect; I think that he is a very successful person and his project also has every chance of success. Whatever Oleg Fedorovich undertakes, he usually succeeds. We wish this aircraft a long and happy life on the world market and in Russia, so that in the future these aircraft will also fly with our airline (laughs).

- Efforts to ensure that new Russian aircraft fly in S7 were made not only by Oleg Fedorovich Demchenko, but also by the head of Sukhoi, Mikhail Aslanovich Pogosyan...

Vladislav Filev:SSJ-100 and MS-21 cannot be placed in the same row. MS-21 is a fundamentally different aircraft. Now, of course, I’m talking about the declared characteristics of the Irkut Corporation... And it promises a fundamentally new aircraft, a next-generation aircraft. So far these characteristics look more or less plausible, although they are being discussed.

Natalia Fileva:Oleg Fedorovich, I think, has a better chance because the MS-21 has a very good, economical power plant. The PurePower engine is fantastic! Pratt & Whitney promises surprisingly low specific fuel consumption.

Vladislav Filev:Indeed, engine manufacturers promise good performance. However, I would not rush into making loud statements, let the engine first be embodied in metal, and not just on paper. Although the promise of twenty percent savings (and they claim savings of 18% or more) is, of course, very attractive for the airline.

- What conditions must be met for the airlines of the S7 Group of Companies to place an order for the MC-21?

Natalia Fileva:If the aviation industry keeps its promises and completes the aircraft, and engine manufacturers complete the engine, we will immediately begin to consider the possibility of procurement. We, like any airline, before buying an aircraft, need to carefully study its real characteristics, make sure that it meets our requirements, that it will fly and be profitable.

Vladislav Filev:And only then, with all the calculations and business plans, turn to the shareholders with a request to support the management initiative to renew the fleet.

Model of the cockpit of the MC-21 aircraft at the Farnborough Air Show 2010, photo by Vladimir Karnozov

Afterword :

Sometimes the goals that airlines pursue when purchasing an aircraft partially contradict the goals that airline developers set for themselves. At one time, speaking about the reasons for Sibir's refusal to purchase 50 Russian Regional Jet (RRJ) aircraft, the head of the airline, Vladislav Filev, noted: airlines compete to fly cheaper, and the industry strives to make planes that fly “faster.” , higher, further."

Despite the positive reviews about the new promising Russian airliner, the MS-21 also has some complaints from potential customers. Wide fuselage MS-21, diameter 4.2 meters , versus 3.8 m for the Boeing 737, of course, allows us to provide more comfortable conditions for passengers. Both aircraft have six economy class seats in one row. But a wider fuselage has a larger washed surface and cross-sectional area, and this will inevitably cause an increase in the strength of the so-called. “harmful aerodynamic drag”, and, as a result, increased fuel consumption. However, it is quite possible that the developer will be able to bring the price-quality ratio of the provided service to an acceptable level.

This is exactly what Vladislav and Natalya Filev discussed with Oleg Demchenko during their conversation over a cup of tea on the balcony of the Irkut Corporation chalet in Farnborough. The question of the “correct choice” of the fuselage diameter was also raised by the General Director of Ilyushin Finance Co. Alexander Ivanovich Rubtsov during his press conference on July 21. Perhaps a discussion will flare up in the aviation community about whether to accept the designers’ ideas embodied in the MC-21 in this form, or to ask them to think again about the shapes and numbers? True, there are already several supporters of the MS-21 in its current form, and the first of them are the Malaysians, who placed a three-billion dollar order for 50 aircraft. And recently Aeroflot hastened to “join” them.

"If we can buy it cheap, we will always buy it"

At Siberia Airlines, conflict between shareholders and management is virtually eliminated. Russia's second largest air carrier, with a turnover of $370 million, is a family business. Tactical tasks in it are solved by the general director Vladislav Filev, a hereditary military man, who in the early 2000s managed to annex Vnukovo Airlines and Armavia to Siberia, and is now starting a new wave of corporate takeovers. The controlling stake is owned by his wife and first deputy for economics and finance, Natalya Fileva, who determines the company’s development strategy and, for example, came up with the idea of ​​repainting the Siberian planes in cheerful, Rastafarian colors. She asked her husband, who is not inclined to publicity, to give an interview to Vedomosti and talk about the development strategy of Siberia.

The turnover of the Russian air transportation market is only $3.5 billion and, since the solvency of the population is low, it is actually a low-cost market, Filev believes. Therefore, Siberia seeks to expand its business by absorbing competitors at a similar price and purchasing Western aircraft with high residual values. Filev is concerned about Aeroflot's monopoly on international routes and the inability of the Russian aviation industry to produce modern, competitive aircraft.

There are two opinions about you in the market. First: Filev is a brilliant manager, only he knows how to effectively manage air transportation. Second: Filev is borrowing huge amounts of money, pledging shares and planes as collateral, and soon this whole pyramid will collapse. How big is Siberia's bank debt compared to its revenues and profits?

For Western airlines, a debt-to-revenue ratio of 50% is completely normal. Siberia's debt to banks is about $100 million, with revenue for last year being $370 million, i.e. about 27%. This is fine. Moreover, 60% of our loans are 5-6-year loans for the purchase of aircraft.

And 56.8% of the shares of Siberia are actually pledged to Sberbank.

How and when did you get a controlling stake in Siberia? And why is it registered to your wife Natalya Fileva? Do you have matriarchy in your family?

I became the CEO of Siberia in the spring of 1998, before that I worked on the board of directors of the company, representing the financial and industrial group that owned a controlling stake. Natalya Valerievna and I managed this stake on behalf of the owners, and in the fall of 1998, when the owners had no time for it, they offered us to buy out the stake, which we did. The company was worth a ridiculous amount of money back then. We paid about 3 million rubles for the controlling stake. The former director, who worked before me since Soviet times, was a good person, but, unfortunately, he simply had no idea about economic realities. There were many months of non-payment of wages, all kinds of debts to the state We had to sort it all out.

What kind of group owned “Siberia” until 1998? Russian aviation consortium of Tatevos Surinov?

The previous shareholders of Sibir never announced themselves publicly.

And now people of the level of Oleg Deripaska or Viktor Vekselberg did not contact you and offer to sell them “Siberia”?

We are a very closed company.

Well, you can still be seen somewhere in offices or at parties

I remember there were offers to sell the company from serious people. From Alexander Lebedev, for example. He is also a serious person, manages $1 billion in assets. Others did this without publicity, and, accordingly, I cannot name them.

In principle, “Siberia” can be sold?

Not for sale. What for? What will I lead then?

For example, an island in the Pacific Ocean and a small airline that will fly there

No. As one of my friends puts it, I want to be buried in Russia.

The general director of Siberia you, and the shareholder your wife. It turns out that you are a tactician, and she is a strategist. Is it true that it was Natalya Valeryevna who insisted on rebranding Siberia changing the name, repainting the planes green?

Indeed, to a greater extent she leads this topic. But we are not changing the name, but rather repositioning it. What does it mean for an airline to change its name? This means that we must change the name in a number of organizations in which we are members, and in interstate agreements in which we participate. This is a labor-intensive process. “Siberia” is not a bad name at all, the fact that it is tied to geography is not important. In the USA, for example, there is SouthWest Airlines, NorthWest, American West and nothing, they fly with such names and are not ashamed. It’s just that “Siberia” is a tired name. There is also an insurance company “Siberia” and a fair “Siberia”. Therefore, we will be called in English transcription SIBIR, adding to this the letter code of the company S7, which is easy to beat and make more recognizable. SIBIR S7 will be written on board our aircraft, on ticket forms

The most likely option for the company's corporate colors is light green, dark green and crimson. The fleet will be repainted gradually, as scheduled aircraft repairs take place. But rebranding is a broader concept than repainting aircraft.

At the beginning of spring, one of your top managers assured me that Sibir is not going to buy other airlines this year, because now the company’s priority is not quantitative, but qualitative growth. Then it turned out that Sibir began a new round of corporate takeovers: it bought the Chelyabinsk Airlines, and is buying the fleet of Domodedovo Airlines

There is no contradiction here. We really weren't going to buy anyone. The share of Siberia in the Russian market 13% is already quite high, and our primary task is to develop the service, master the operation of aircraft with high added value, such as the Airbus-310.

But we never refuse profitable deals. I always negotiate. If something can be bought cheap, we will always buy it. Siberia has almost never engaged in acquisitions in the classical sense of the word. We acted as forest health workers: we took on crisis situations, took upon ourselves to solve production and social problems, and negotiated with local authorities. This was the case in the late 1990s, when Sibir annexed the practically bankrupt state aviation squadrons Barnaul, Kemerovo, Tomsk, Irkutsk. This was the case with Vnukovo Airlines (VAL) in 2001, and VAL aircraft - they now form the basis of our fleet - we purchased separately on the market, from the structures of the East Line group.

By the way, how much did you pay for VAL and Armavia?

According to Armavia, this was a deal between the airline Siberia and the government of Armenia. It was confidential, so I won’t say the amount of the deal, but I can say that the government squeezed us to the last drop. The total amount we spent on Vnukovo Airlines, including the purchase of aircraft and repayment of debt to the state, amounted to about 1 billion rubles. There was a difficult situation there: pilots and flight attendants had not received their salaries for months, plus tax arrears, debts for fuel, for air navigation services, for aircraft repairs, etc.

How is the deal with Domodedovo Airlines (DAL) aircraft structured? After all, DAL shares belong to completely different people - the company Sigma Consulting and the state, who believe that DAL aircraft were withdrawn from the airline illegally.

No one has yet offered us shares in DAL. As for aircraft, Siberia Airlines is their bona fide purchaser. We paid the entrance deposit, and the total amount of the transaction will be about $10 million. We are buying 12 Il-62 aircraft and taking control of three Il-96. This is the main fleet of passenger aircraft operated by DAL. To be honest, the Domodedovo Il-62s are interesting only because they have fairly new engines that can be transferred to the Tu-154M. And the three Il-96 the youngest and most efficient aircraft will most likely be transferred to a separate company, which we will simply take over. Instead of DAL, their operator will be Sibir. This project is interesting to me as a manager: arrange the planes, connect the network. After all, look, Il-96s are used ineffectively by Domodedovo Airlines; they fly 120 hours a month. At Aeroflot, the same aircraft flies on average 300 hours, and at a maximum it can fly 450 hours per month.

How are you going to get out of the conflict situation that has developed around DAL?

We are waiting for the state to determine its position on DAL and are ready for discussions and negotiations. Sibir would not mind taking over the management of the shares if the state offers. We, in turn, are ready to take on some obligations, as was the case with Vnukovo Airlines. DAL has the same problems: a difficult financial situation, debts to the state and commercial structures, salary delays.

How to maintain a balance between the interests of the Russian aviation industry and airlines? It turns out that by buying used “foreign cars”, our carriers undertake obligations to purchase Russian aircraft.

The motivation should be economic, not political.

It has always amazed me that at the consumer level we all clearly understand that Western cars are better than ours. But is an airplane really simpler than a car? Where do we get such a strong belief that we make our planes no worse than Western ones? Paradox! What is called public opinion. In general, this is an interesting position when our industry says: we produce modern aircraft that are in no way inferior to their global counterparts. But there are objective facts! What are the next generation weapons? This is when an army armed with old-generation weapons has no chance of winning. For example, a fourth-generation fighter has no chance of winning a battle against a fifth-generation fighter because the missile will shoot down the fourth-generation fighter before it even enters the area from which it can fire.

The same thing applies to generations of civil aircraft. Tu-154M the best, in my opinion, Russian serial aircraft began production in November 1983, three months after its full analogue Boeing-727-200M was discontinued. And the Boeing-757 aircraft, a complete analogue of which is the Tu-204 aircraft, began production in 1982 and was discontinued last year. But here the Tu-204 just started flying in 1995 and is considered a modern aircraft, the hope of the Russian aviation industry.

What if you count? A key parameter for aircraft efficiency is the cost per seat-kilometer. The Tu-204 gets 1.64 cents per seat-kilometer. According to this indicator, the Tu-204 loses not only to the Airbus-310, but also to the Il-86 (0.51 cents per seat-kilometer) and Tu-154M (0.48 cents).

What does the announced price of the Tu-204 $28 million mean? This means that at an interest rate of even 5%, you have to pay $1.4 million annually just to service the interest on the loan. But you also have to pay off the body of the loan, i.e. another $2.3 million a year. It turns out that such a plane would cost $300,000 a month, even if it was just sitting on the ground. If he flies, this amount is distributed among fixed expenses. If a plane flies 300 hours a month, then the company must pay $1,000 for every hour it flies. If he flies 120 hours a month, as is the average for Russian civil aviation, then the plane will cost approximately $2,500 per flight hour. And the income rate how much revenue the plane brings in per flight is $2600 per hour. And this does not count the costs of wages, insurance, maintaining airworthiness, and air navigation. This is such a sad statistic. Therefore, when they ask me whether it is possible to fly on a Tu-204 plane, I answer: “It is possible, but it should cost no more than $12 million.” You just need to be aware that this is an old generation aircraft.

Do you take the same functional approach to staff reduction in Siberia?

Yes. Now everyone is saying “doubling the gross domestic product.” What does it mean to double GDP? This means that all the work that is being done today should be done by half as many people as there are now.

How many people work in civil aviation today? 230,000 people. They carry 29.4 million passengers. That is, on average there are 128 passengers per civil aviation employee. Or take airlines. Here is the leader of the Russian sky Aeroflot: 15,000 employees, 5.8 million passengers last year, that’s 386 passengers per employee. Here is “Siberia”: as of January 1, 5,000 workers, 3.4 million passengers 680 passengers per employee. Let's take the West: American, not the most efficient company, transports 58 million people and employs 28,000 employees, i.e., about 2,000 passengers per person.

Or take another indicator: income per employee. “Aeroflot” gets $115,000 a year, “Siberia” gets about $80,000. If we take a decent Western company like Lufthansa, Japan Airlines or “young wolf” Ryan Air, then the income will be approximately $500,000 per employee. Even a company like Czech Airlines (CZA) will have revenues in the region of $150,000 per employee.

Therefore, we are reducing and laying off about 20% of our employees - approximately 1,000 people who are not directly involved in the production process in the aviation business. These are employees of cleaning services for aircraft and premises, catering, vehicle maintenance, etc., owned by the airline. Our main driving force pilots must be motivated by the ruble. The more he flew and carried passengers, the more he earned. How long can we fly today? For example, flying standards in Germany require that a Lufthansa pilot can fly a maximum of 1,100 hours per year. Our pilot flies on average, if we take the country, 400-450 hours. Moreover, the theoretical limit of how much a pilot can fly is limited to 700 hours.

For an old pilot who doesn’t want to fly, this is good, but for a young pilot who wants to fly, who wants to buy an apartment, take his family somewhere, buy his wife a new fur coat, this is bad. And this is in addition to the fact that the money earned must be divided among a larger number of workers than in the West. The crew of a modern Western aircraft consists of two people. In our most modern aircraft, the Il-96 and Tu-204, three people must fly in the cockpit, in the Tu-154 and Il-86 there are four, in the Tu-134 there are generally five crew members

Since April, quotas on domestic air routes have been abolished. Is this a real cancellation or a formal one? And in general, are there places on the map of Russia where Siberia would like to fly, but cannot due to some artificial barriers?

Quotas in fact are carried out by airlines that are in joint units with airports. This applies to airports such as Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Mineralnye Vody, Krasnodar, Pulkovo. After all, in order to fly somewhere, you need to go through a number of formal procedures in which the airport is involved. And without receiving official paper from the airport, it is impossible to introduce a new flight. Unsubscribes can be very different, for example, “there is no technical possibility to accept your flight, therefore there are no slots” [time intervals in the schedule]. At an airport where, say, there are five flights a day, the phrase “no slots” sounds more than ridiculous.

Is it difficult to get the right to access international lines?

There are many artificial restrictions. International flights are regulated by interstate agreements, in most of them Aeroflot is registered as the only state-designated (national) carrier. Intergovernmental agreements are reviewed as necessary. On a number of routes there are several designated national carriers. The most liberal government regulations apply in Germany and the USA, where there may be more than a dozen national carriers. But it is extremely difficult to enter the French or English market.

Siberia flies most of all to Germany, and we don’t yet see the opportunity for ourselves to fly to the USA, since it is a very difficult and competitive market. We fly to almost all CIS countries. In addition, “Siberia” is one of the largest carriers to China, Korea, and we recently received the right to fly to Japan.

Are you planning to join global airline alliances? Aeroflot is joining the SkyTeam alliance led by Air France, and it would be logical for you to join the Star Alliance

Leader of Star Alliance Lufthansa airline, probably our closest Western partner. We constantly communicate with them, they help Siberia a lot in terms of methodologies. But it’s too early to talk about an alliance.

At your base airport Novosibirsk Tolmachevo the situation is somewhat similar to Sheremetyevo: there are private shareholders and an airline that also wants to participate in the airport business and independently build a new terminal

No, our situation is different. I became the general director of Siberia in the spring of 1998. During this time, I never tried to build my own terminal or my own fuel and refueling complex. Until last summer. Why? I believe that investing money in its own aviation activities is more effective for the company. In addition, compared to airports, the airline is always the main one. Because she has the main money.

Last summer there was indeed some aggravation of relations between “Siberia” and “Tolmachevo”, but then we restored normal relations. The development of the situation at the airport will depend on the results of the privatization of the 51% state stake, which should take place before the end of this year. The revenue of Tolmachevo is about 900 million rubles, so the price of the state stake, I think, will exceed $10 million. Siberia itself will not go to the auction, but I do not rule out that structures friendly to us will take part in it.

How many large, federal airlines should remain in Russia, in your opinion?

Currently there are about 220 airlines in Russia, with approximately 30 companies accounting for about 80% of the bulk of air traffic. I think there will be 4-5 airlines left. These are those who now have a share of at least 5% in the all-Russian market, Aeroflot, Siberia, Pulkovo in the North-West, UTair is not going anywhere. The creation of a large independent airline in the Far East, from my point of view, is unlikely. There may still be several hundred local carriers flying from the regional center to the outback.

ABOUT COMPANY

Siberia Airlines is the second largest in Russia after Aeroflot, the largest in terms of domestic traffic. In 2003, it carried 3.4 million passengers, of which 1.2 million were on international flights. The company operates 34 Tu-154, 12 Il-86, two Tu-204 and two Airbus-310 aircraft. Sibir owns a controlling stake in the Armenian Armavia, which operates four A320 aircraft. Siberia's revenue according to IFRS for last year is about $370 million, net profit is $1 million. The state owns 25.5% of Siberia, 56.8% of the shares belong to Natalya Fileva, the wife and first deputy general director of Siberia Vladislav Filev.

BIOGRAPHY

Vladislav Filev was born in 1963 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk into a military family. In 1985 he graduated from the Leningrad Academy of Military Space Forces named after. Mozhaisky. From 1985 to 1993 he served in the Strategic Missile Forces. Since 1993, Deputy Director for Economics of the Novosibirsk plant Metalist, since April 1996, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the investment company Eurofinance-Novosibirsk, and since October 1996, Deputy Director of OJSC BoguchanGESstroy. At the end of 1997, he joined the board of directors of Sibir Airlines (Novosibirsk), and in March 1998 he became its general director.