The tour operator Anex Tour has reached agreement with the UTair airline on purchase of the airline’s Ukrainian subsidiary UTair Ukraine. Anex Tour’s co-owner Serhat Kockar announced this to the Ukrainian edition of the Forbes publication.
According to him, the tour operator acquired the operator certificate for UTair Ukraine in Ukraine because essentially nothing valuable remains of this air carrier’s business.
UTair Ukraine was previously one of the largest air carriers in Ukraine, but it has been performing only charter flights in recent years. The airline’s fleet has reduced from 12 aircraft to three Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which are owned by Anex Tour and were transferred to the airline for operation. "The deal will provide an opportunity to control and fully manage all the processes involved in this business and provide better services," said Kockar.
The deal is expected to be completed by the end of this year, after which the company will change its name to Azur Air Ukraine. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Aviation experts believe that the operator certificate may be transferred for a symbolic amount.
The new airline will develop as a charter carrier, to which three Boeing 737-800 aircraft will be transferred. Azur Air Ukraine will operate flights to Turkey, Egypt, and Spain. The carrier’s plans for next year include launching of charter flights to Bulgaria, Greece, and Italy. According to Kockar, the market currently does not require a large aircraft fleet, but the situation may change in two years. The company may review its development plans then.
The negotiations on the sale of UTair Ukraine were held for about one year. Experts point out that the Russian-based UTair airline dictated the policies of UTair Ukraine until recently while simultaneously searching for a buyer for it.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individuals, a new airline called Air Ukraine Azur was registered in the village of Baryshevka (Kiev region) in November 2014. The head of the new airline is Karen Antonov, who is the current co-chairman of UTair Ukraine’s supervisory board. Ukrainian Sky LLC is listed as the founder of Azur Air Ukraine while Elvis Abduraimov and Ramis Karaev, who are currently working in the marketing department of the Ukrainian division of Anex Tour, are listed as the ultimate beneficiaries.
