Aeroflot and, Um, Well, Just Aeroflot
Apr 12th, 2004 | By Jared BlankVery little news over the weekend (though I thought it was interesting that embattled US Airways CEO David Siegel will receive a pay package that could be worth up to $11 million.)
In any case, Air Transport World (sorry, no link) has an article about Aeroflot’s amazing turnaround. Once an industry punchline, the carrier has completely overhauled its operation (the article notes that the lowpoint for the airline was the 1994 crash caused when one of the plane’s pilots allowed his child to operate the aircraft, killing 75 people). In any case, Aeroflot actually makes a nice piece of revenue from so-called Overflight fees—payments made to the airline by other airlines flying over Russian airspace. As you might imagine, the EU is none too happy about this (since European airlines make up a large portion of these fees).
According to a friend living in London who just spent the weekend there, St. Petersburg (Russia) is the “most amazing party place ever”. It’s an ideal place for a bachelor party he says; though I can just imagine the complications that could ensue :)