Vitebsk air company to earmark ?17m for five L-410 aircrafts

VITEBSK, 19 August (BelTA) - Vitebskaviaservice plans to allocate ?17 million for the acquisition of five L-410 aircrafts and development of the relevant service center, BelTA learnt from Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Belarusian-Czech company Pavel Gorodnov. An agreement on intend to cooperate in the area was signed between Vitebskaviaservice and Czech Aircraft Industries a.s. at the Moscow international aviation and space industry salon MAKS 2011. In line with the agreement within 2012-2013 the Vitebsk air company will be equipped with two business-class and three passenger airplanes fitted with new H80 engines of the American GE Aviation Company. Two aircrafts including one business-class plane will be purchased next year. The Belarusian-Czech enterprise intends to develop regional passenger transport services and is considering a possibility to open, as early as 2012, traffic routes Vitebsk-Moscow, Vitebsk-Warsaw and Vitebsk-Kaliningrad. Other routes are not ruled out. The Czech aircraft manufacturer in cooperation with Vitebskaviaservice intends to create a service center for L-410 in Vitebsk. Now there are only two service centers, namely in the Czech Republic and in Russia’s Yekaterinburg. Therefore the center in Vitebsk will be able to service the aircraft from Baltics and CIS countries, said Pavel Gorodnov. The Vitebskaviaservice joint venture was created with the participation of PDW Group s.r.o. from the Czech Republic to implement the infrastructure upgrade project at Vitebsk Airport. In accordance with the investment contract, the Czech investor will set up five specialty companies in Vitebsk, including an air company, a business aviation service company, a fuel servicing unit and an airport service company, and also a transport and logistics center near Vitebsk Airport. Project investments are estimated at ?50 million. The airline will operate L-410 aircraft made in the Czech Republic. In the future the company will look into a possibility of leasing IL-114s or the Franco-Italian ATRs, upgrading IL-76 transport aircraft. The investor intends to recruit local flight engineers and technical personnel. The project also involves the construction of hotels, restaurants, upgrading of the Vitebsk airport terminal and developing additional services.

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