Izvestia:"Transport Ministry spares regional airlines"
The transport ministry rejected the idea to ban flights for all companies that have less than 10 planes in their fleet. Transport Minister Igor Levitin said that the requirement to have more than 10 planes will apply only to owners of large planes (with a capacity of more than 55 seats).
"The requirements only apply to large airlines conducting international flights or long flights across Russia, such as, Aeroflot or Transaero," head of the Transport Ministry's press-service Timur Khikmatov told Izvestia. "New limitations on the number of aircraft will not apply to regional companies, which conduct flights within a region or a federal district."
But for the prime minister, what's important is something entirely different.
"It is not about the fleet numbers," Vladimir Putin said at the meeting of the Government Presidium. "If an airline has only one aircraft but it meets the requirements [to train flight personnel – "Izvestia"], let it operate its lone aircraft."
But the requirements to train pilots need to be very strict.
"An airline may have 100 planes and not a single flight simulator for its crews. Should we allow such companies to operate? It cannot make sure its pilots hold sufficient qualifications," the prime minister continued.
"The number of operating aircrafts is also important because the airlines must have a reserve in case of maintenance work on another aircraft, temporarily putting it out of commission," Igor Levitin said.
He stressed that the agencies have almost reached an agreement on the draft laws pertaining to new requirements for retraining and simulator training, while the proposals to provide flight simulators to flying schools have already been agreed upon.
The prime minister agreed: "Eliminating administrative barriers in any other area is one thing," he said. "But transport security is a totally different issue. The requirements must be stricter."
At the meeting, Vladimir Putin also reprimanded the minister of education and science and the finance minister for the fact that not all wages to employees that are paid by the state had been increased, nor were student allowances, even though the federal budget fulfilled all of its obligations.
"We continue to hear from other regions that the work on increasing the teachers' wages has not been completed," Putin said. "We have expanded the funds for student allowances by 9% and transferred the money on time. However, this has not yet been done at some universities. The logical question is why?"
Acting Finance Minister Anton Siluanov suggested that the regions failed to provide new data on time, since wages for September are paid in October.
"According to monitoring, all regions have set aside funds to increase wages in their budgets," Siluanov said. "Well, perhaps, it's just that fresh information hasn't come in yet."
Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko, in turn, assured the prime minister that in most regions, advance payments for September had already been increased, taking into account salary increases. In order to control the situation the Ministry of Education and Science will organise a special "hot line" that will take appeals from teachers whose wages have not been increased.
"As far as we know, the required money has been disbursed and all the necessary measures to raise teacher salaries have been taken" Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko said. "We will check up on each of the complaints we get."
The situation with student allowances is a bit different, according to the minister of education and science. All universities reported that the necessary decisions had been made. But some universities decided to increase allowances for all students evenly, while others decided to provide increased stipends only to exceptional students and to those who require social protection.
"They report to you that they have made all decisions," the prime minister said. "But students keep writing to me that they are not receiving this additional 9%."
Vladimir Putin requested a teleconference to be held with all regions, and to immediately receive a report on the regions and universities in which the government decisions are ignored.
Additionally, the prime minister ordered the Audit Chamber to find out how the funds that were allocated for these purposes are being spent.
Alexandra Bayazitova
