All the personnel of Koltsovo Airport stopped servicing the flight of Ural Airlines (the 8.15 AM Yekaterinburg-Moscow one hosting 254 passengers) for over one hour on November 13, 2006.

‘Koltsovo airport did not coordinate the slots for this flight thus violating the Russian Federation law (in particular, the order DV-50 issued by Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service on May 6, 1996 concerning the obligatory confirmation of the so-called ‘historic slots’ to Moscow). What the airport does contradicts not only the Russian law but also the direct recommendations of the federal air authorities (see the official wire of RosAviation as of October 10, 2006),’ says the report of Ural Airlines about the incident.

The carrier maintains the reasons for the airport staff violating the law are connected with the Ural Airlines trying to make the airport reduce its fuel prices.

‘By using its natural monopoly resource, Koltsovo Airport is undermining the reliable performance of the region’s major carrier and leaving the passengers trapped,’ says the report.