Babyflot

Babyflot is the informal name given to an airline in the former Soviet Union created from the dissolution of the Soviet airline monopoly Aeroflot in the early 1990s, at the time of the breakup of the Soviet Union. The word is a portmanteau of "baby" and "Aeroflot".

In 1992 Aeroflot was divided into more than 300+ regional and many other smaller airlines many just one-plane operations. International routes were operated separately as Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines (ARIA). ["Directory: World Airlines", Flight International (2007-04-03), p. 47. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.] Some airline companies which were created from the old Aeroflot are now flag carriers of the newly independent countries of the CIS — for example, Uzbekistan Airlines, and Lithuanian Airlines.

Fall of the Babyflots

There were over 800 such airlines at one time with many of them subsequently closing down due to abysmal safety records in 1994. [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/archives/1997/9702030040.asp] [118 carriers went out of business because fewer passengers could afford to fly than in 1995,P-I Staff and News Services]

By 2000, Russia will have only about eight federal air carriers and 40 to 45 regional airlines - down sharply from the current 315 carriers, said Ivan Valov, first deputy chief of the Russian Federal Aviation Service. The government began to restrict licensing and certification and bring air-safety standards into compliance with international standards. The "Babyflot" airlines have been blamed for a sharp decline in Russia's air safety. Many of the crashes that occurred been blamed on poor maintenance and lax controls at many small carriers, which have neglected flight safety in their run for profit. [http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19980116&slug=2729072] [Ivan Valov, first deputy chief of the Russian Federal Aviation Service.1/15/1998]

The eight hundred-odd "Babyflot" airlines had such abysmal safety records that in 1994 the International Air Transport Association had taken the unusual step of recommending train travel as the least life-threatening form of conveyance in the former Soviet Union. [Casino Moscow: A Tale of Greed and Adventure on Capitalism's Wildest Frontier by Matthew Brzezinski, Ch 1]

List of babyflots

* 2nd Arkhangelsk United Aviation Division
* 2nd Sverdlovsk Air Enterprise
* ARP410 Airlines
* ATRAN
* Abakan Avia
* Aeroflot
* Donavia
* Aerosweet
* Air Georgia
* Air Kharkov
* Air Ukraine
* Arkhangelsk Airlines
* Baikal Airlines
* BAL Bashkirian Airlines
* Belgorod Air Enterprise
* Bravia (Bryansk Air Enterprise)
* Bugulma Air Enterprise
* Chitaavia
* Dagestan Airlines
* Dalavia
* Domodedovo Airlines
* FlyLal
* Georgia
* Izhavia
* Kazan Air Enterprise
* Kemerovo Aviation Enterprise
* Komiaviatrans
* KrasAir
* Kuban Airlines
* Mavial Magadan Airlines
* Nefteyugansk Air Enterprise
* Nikolaevsk-Na-Amure Air Enterprise
* Novosibirsk Air Enterprise
* Omskavia
* Orenburg Airlines
* Perm Airlines
* Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Air Enterprise
* Pulkovo Airlines
* S7 Airlines
* SAT Airlines
* Samara Airlines
* Saransk Air Enterprise
* Saravia
* Siberia Airlines
* Transaero
* UTair Aviation
* Uzbekistan Airways
* Vladivostok Air
* Volga-Aviaexpress
* Voronezhavia

References

External links

* [http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/1998/01/17/018.html End of babyflots?]
* [http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=362589&in_page_id=2&in_a_source= Brits help put Babyflot, SIBR, on new course]
* [http://www.landor.com/index.cfm?do=thinking.article&storyid=444&bhcp=1 S7: Bringing Siberia Airlines In From The Cold]
* [http://carpetblog.typepad.com/carpetblogger/2007/01/an_open_letter_.html An Open Letter to AeroSvit, Ukrainian Airlines]
* [http://www.ft.com/dkreports/russia6 DK World Reports RUSSIA]