An extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders by a majority vote approved the transfer of the functions of the sole executive body from PSC Rostov-on-Don Airport to Airports of Regions holding company. The decision to transfer the authority was supported the majority shareholder, as well as 16 of 22 minority shareholders participating in the meeting. In fact, this decision means that strategic management functions in the field of investment and finance, aviation marketing, strategic communications, and others will be carried out by the experts of the professional management company.
The need to transfer management functions has a number of grounds. In recent years, Rostov Airport’s development has been significantly behind other million cities’ airports. The fact that the quality of service for passengers and airlines, financial performance and state of infrastructure are at a very low level is recognized by the passengers, as well as aviation experts and carriers. As a result of the Aviaport Industrial Agency’s study in 2013 Rostov air hub ranked only one star, one of the lowest ratings in Russia. Rostov airport is lagging far behind on the technology and equipment development. For example, 57% of the vehicles servicing passengers and airlines are more than 20 years old - for a modern, civilized and dynamic airport such indicator is unacceptable.
«The priority of Airports of Regions Group is complex enhancement of Rostov-on-Don Airport’s performance, in particular, increase in the revenue base, timely and proper implementation of the runway and terminal reconstruction projects, improvement of passenger services», said MC’s Airports of Regions General Director Evgeniy Chudnovskiy. «Investment projects for the acquisition of new vehicles, the introduction of modern approaches to working with airlines and new technologies - all aimed at the qualitative transformation of Rostov Airport which has great potential, not used before».
For reference: Airports of Regions holding company, in addition to Rostov-on-Don Airport, operates three major Russian air hubs - in Ekaterinburg, Samara and Nizhny Novgorod. All airports of the Group are implementing large-scale long term investment programs. The investment program amounts to more than 30 billion rubles. The holding aims at making each of its airports a modern airport complex, increasing aviation mobility of population in the regions of presence and promoting the development of regional economy. The Holding’s investment programs for each airport include both the construction of passenger terminals and associated infrastructure: hotels, conference centers, cargo terminals, parking lots, and etc.
Among the completed projects: a modern passenger terminal built and put into operation in Samara at the end of last year, the largest regional passenger and cargo terminals in Russia and a number of other high class facilities at Koltsovo (Ekaterinburg). In Nizhny Novgorod, the construction of a new airport complex began in June 2014, by the end of this year it will be put into operation.
High competency level of the aviation marketing specialists allow for the annual expansion of the route network in each of the Holding’s assets by 10-15 destinations through attracting 3-5 new carriers. Airports’ achievements are regularly marked by Russian and international experts, in particular, in 2012, Koltsovo Airport won World Routes Awards for the most effective working with airlines. In March of this year, Ekaterinburg Airport received 4-star Skytrax rating and entered the top 10 Russia? and CIS airports. In 2014 Strigino International Airport (Nizhny Novgorod) won the rank of «The fastest growing airport in Russia» established by the Adam Smith Institute.