Passengers departing from Pulkovo in St. Petersburg may experience serious disruptions to the airport. Many flights may be canceled due to a critical situation with the operational maintenance of aircraft, failures are expected as early as Friday — the aircraft technicians of the UTG DOMODEDOVO line station (a subsidiary of UTG) starting from December 2 will not be able to perform operational maintenance of aircraft of Pobeda airlines , Utair, NordStar, Alrosa, Nordwind, Smartavia and Izhavia. Technicians will not physically be able to enter the airport, as their passes will be blocked. This is reported by the Aviatorshina Telegram channel with a link to the UTG letter (the text of the letter is at the disposal of The Insider).
UTG's letter emphasizes that without operational maintenance, the flights of the listed companies will not be able to depart. At the same time, aircraft maintenance at Pulkovo is carried out not only by UTG. It is also, for example, the state-owned airline Rossiya, however, in the current situation, its equipment will face an increased load, which will lead to disruptions in departures.
The reason is in the conflict between UTJ DOMODEDOVO and Pulkovo airport operator Northern Capital Gateway (VVSS). As stated in the letter, the operator artificially blocks the work of technicians, not allowing them to the aircraft and demanding to sign a new aircraft maintenance agreement to replace the expiring one. A year ago, the subsidiary of UTG began to provide services for the operational maintenance of aircraft at Pulkovo, having concluded an agreement with the VVSS – according to the UTG document, access to roads and access roads in the controlled area of the St. Petersburg airport is provided for a year for a fee.
UTG decided to extend the expiring contract, but the BBC responded by saying that in order to continue cooperation, it is necessary to conclude a new agreement, which completely changes the procedure for calculating fees for services. VVSS also refused to provide UTG DOMODEDOVO with information about the amount of fees under the new agreement imposed to replace the expiring one.
“YTJ DOMODEDOVO LLC found itself in a situation where it is illegally forced to conclude a deliberately unfavorable agreement, while its specific conditions are not disclosed by VVSS,” the letter says.
UTG also notes that in this way the VVSS violates the law "On Protection of Competition." At the same time, the VVSS operator itself does not provide operational maintenance services – it does not have a technical base and there are no qualified personnel to perform these works, the letter says.
