Aviation sets up a booking system - Newspaper Kommersant No. 176 (7377) dated 09/23/2022

Aviation sets up a booking system - Newspaper Kommersant No. 176 (7377) dated 09/23/2022



As Kommersant found out, employees of airlines and airports began to massively receive subpoenas to the military registration and enlistment offices. Their employers are actively working on compiling booking lists, and some have already sent them. But Kommersant's sources say that the procedure is unclear and the companies' lawyers have no idea where it is more expedient to transfer the lists: to the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Transport or local authorities. Most of the interlocutors emphasize that the draft exemption is critical not only for pilots and air traffic controllers, but also for technical, commercial and IT specialists, since flights without them can simply stop.

As it became known to Kommersant, employees of at least five Russian airlines, including the Aeroflot group, and more than ten airports received summons to the draft board within a day after the announcement of partial mobilization in the Russian Federation on September 21.

As told in the industry, the majority of pilots in airlines are reserve officers trained in military departments of flight schools, or privates who have completed military service (see also Kommersant of September 21). Sources at the three companies estimate that 50-80% of employees can potentially mobilize. A source close to the Aeroflot group estimates the number of “potential recruits” in all three carriers (including Rossiya and Pobeda) to be more than half the state. Aeroflot has set up working groups to compile lists for reservations in a number of specialties.

Aeroflot, S7, UTair, Ural Airlines, Red Wings and other carriers abstained from official comments. The Ministry of Transport and the Federal Air Transport Agency did not answer “Kommersant”. Rossiya Airlines said that "the process of planning the cabin and flight crews of the airline is carried out as usual," and denied the information that appeared the day before that flight attendants were no longer assigned to international flights due to fears that they would be detained at the border and sent to the military offices.

Now at least five airlines surveyed by Kommersant are studying the procedure for generating a booking request for employees necessary to ensure a continuous production cycle. These lists must be approved by the military registration and enlistment office in the relevant region, says one of Kommersant's interlocutors. But so far, airline lawyers cannot give an unequivocal answer as to where to send the lists: to the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Defense or the regional authorities. In addition, since the companies employ employees from different regions, it is not clear which military registration and enlistment office of which of them to transfer information to.

Nevertheless, two airlines have already compiled and sent the lists: in one case to the local administration, in the other to the regional Ministry of Transport. The first carrier included pilots and engineers in the list, the second also included IT specialists. Other companies are still compiling lists of those potentially subject to conscription and regulations for those who have received the summons.

The greatest concern is, according to top managers interviewed by Kommersant, the possible mobilization of not only crews, but also technical specialists, IT specialists and employees of commercial divisions. According to Kommersant's interlocutors, their staffing is much smaller, and the possible departure of even a few people will seriously complicate or even paralyze the work. Some carriers have already experienced difficulties in finding personnel after the outflow of IT specialists in early spring and fear a shortage amid the transition to domestic booking systems: “Aviation engineers and IT specialists are very specific specialties, there are few of them, and each is worth its weight in gold since the start of sanctions ". In addition, many Kommersant's interlocutors emphasize the need to extend the reservation to key administrative personnel, such as flight directors.

According to the overwhelming majority of Kommersant's interlocutors, the most logical and expected way out of the current confusion for them would be a centralized request from the Ministry of Transport to the Ministry of Defense with a proposal to include civil aviation in the list of industries that are granted a deferment from the call for mobilization. Now only the military-industrial complex falls under the exception.

Lists of employees with call-up reservations already exist at Russian airports, since they are continuous cycle enterprises, a source in one of the specialized holdings told Kommersant. But these lists, according to him, traditionally contained a rather narrow list of specialists. Work to expand the "quantity and official composition" of the lists began jointly with the Ministry of Transport long before the special operation, but was not completed. As a result, airport employees across the country receive subpoenas, a Kommersant source says, even those who had a reservation. This, Kommersant's interlocutor emphasizes, speaks of "a serious inconsistency in the work of the military registration and enlistment offices," which gives rise to people's fears of receiving a summons "contrary to the established procedure."

Now airports are forming new lists with specialties that offer to “book”, adds the interlocutor of “Kommersant”. Mobilization departments operate at all airports, says a source in another holding, who are responsible for registering those liable for military service and updating the data.

On September 22, the Federal Trade Union of Air Traffic Controllers reported that several dozen dispatchers of the State Air Traffic Management Corporation (GK ATM) in branches from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Magadan and Irkutsk had also received subpoenas. The chairman of the trade union, Sergei Kovalev, told Kommersant that on September 23, 15 people should go to the recruiting station in Khabarovsk. The organization sent a letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin with a request to grant the right to deferment from mobilization to key employees of the ATM Civil Code.

As Mr. Kovalev explained to Kommersant, annually lists were submitted to the military registration and enlistment offices for the exclusion of dispatchers and other specialists of the Civil Code on ATM from participating in military training, “but this year the lists were not submitted for everyone.”

As Kommersant was told by representatives of several trade unions of flight personnel, they are also considering the possibility of sending such an appeal to the government if the airlines do not have time to promptly receive the amount of armor they need.

Aigul Abdullina



Source link