Travel agents, whose clients were meant to
fly out with the Italian company Wind jet, which has now cancelled all flights,
are actively searching for new options amongst carriers. On Monday in St
Petersburg an agreement was achieved with the airline company “Rossia”
regarding the transportation of Russians stuck in Catania (Island on Sicilia) –
all up around 100 people. Initially there were 156, but some passengers were
able to be scattered onto different flights and returned to Russia last
Sunday. At the same time, all expenses that were used for their accommodation
and flights will be covered by the travel agents.
As the press secretary of the Russian Union
of Travel industry Irina Tyurina reported, around 120 tourists whose vacation
was meant to start last Saturday flew into Catania on the same flight. Market players
also announced that they were ready to refund money if people suddenly chose to
decline their trip, because of the fact that their holiday time might have been
severely shortened. “Aside from this, it was decided that the link that Wind
Jet used to hold together between St Petersburg and Catania will now be
replaced by “Rossia”, but on Fridays and not on Saturdays as was done
previously”, - added Ms Tyurina.
We’d like to remind you that on Saturday
night (going on Sunday) Wind Jet cancelled all flights due to financial
troubles. According to data from Italy’s aviation authorities, the
bankruptcy of this company may affect up to 300 000 passengers all up, who
bought tickets up until October. Wind Jet used to make close to 20 flights to Russia weekly,
transporting over 10 000 passengers. The main designated airports were Bergamo, Verona, Catania, Palermo, Pisa, and Rimini.
It became known on the eve, that the Embassy of the Russian
Federation in Italy established a task force that
dealt with questions regarding Russian passengers who flew with Wind Jet some
place that affected passengers could contact.
Travel agents in Moscow are also currently holding discussions
with alternative airline carriers. The PAC Group company announced that they
already have an agreement with the airline company “UTair” which will execute
Wednesday’s planned flight Rostov on Don – Rimini. The PR manager of
the travel agent Marina Limar told us
that a further 140 people are meant to head into Italy on the same flight. And
tourists who are at the moment holidaying in Italy will fly out on the way back.
Ms Limar also made it clear that discussions regarding a future flight program
out of Rostov
are still being held.
The commercial director of the “Jet Travel”
company Maxim Pristavenko told RATA-news, that all of the travel agents summer
programs, starting from next Saturday will be carried out using a different
airline carrier. There is already a corresponding agreement with the Kazan
based carrier “Ak Bars Aero”, and aside from this the Airline Company “Kuban” is
being looked at as an alternative partner. At the same time Mr Pristavko
highlighted, that problems concerning the Italian airline carrier were already
known last week, and because of this discussions were being held with one of
Russians airline companies regarding the possibility of substituting Wind Jets
flight to Pisa.
However, on Saturday Wind Jet nevertheless carried out its flight, although
with a 4 hour delay. There were no tourists from “Jet Travel” on the flight
that was meant to be carried out on Tuesday. “All up all of the difficulties
and financial losses lie on the shoulders of travel agents. The maximum threat
that our tourists face is delays”, - highlighted Mr Pristavko.
In the company of RATA-news “Tris-T”
explained that their nearest Saturday flight with Wind Jet to Catania, on which
a total of 160 tourists were meant to fly to their holiday destination, is
going to be carried out by the Italian company Blue Panorama. It’s entirely
possible that this airline company will also carry out the future program of
Wind Jet. The general director of “Tris-T” Svetlana Bashkirtseva is actually
now in Sicily,
where she is holding talks with Blue Panorama and the Italian aviation
authorities.
At the same time experts don’t rule out the
possibility that Wind Jet will continue to fly. The company’s management has
been holding talks with Italy’s
largest airline carrier Alitalia since March, and the result of these
discussions may be the buying out of the bankrupt company. As we have already
reported, the next stages of discussions which will be held with participation
of Italy’s
National Civil Aviation are planned for tomorrow.
Maxim Pristavko pointed out, that it’s not
profitable for Italy’s
authorities for hundreds of thousands of tourists to be stranded all around the
country and outside of it because of lack of transport: “The planes are there and the tickets have
been sold. It’s much better if the company continues to fly. It would be easier
for Italy’s
Ministry of Transport to appoint a temporary director of Wind Jet, who will go
on to control its future operations”.
