The regulatory system for small aviation in Russia has completely diverged from global practice and has effectively killed the regional transportation sector. This was stated in an interview with "Pervy Teknichesky" by aviation expert, board member of the Association of Small Aviation Enterprises (MalAP), and founder of the flight safety service RunAvia, Andrey Patrakov.
He recalled that since 2019, there have been attempts in Russia to ease the regulation of the small and light aviation industry, as there is no differentiation in requirements for carriers. For example, the requirements are the same for companies with aircraft that can carry 500 people and companies with a couple of An-2 " кукурузник"s.
All such small airlines are unprofitable, so in fact, over the past 20 years, all of our small aviation has disappeared. And now regional transportation is starting to be zeroed out. Remember the movie "Afonya", there is an example of how a " кукурузник" is announced to be flying from one village to another. This was all in the USSR, where light local aviation was developed. But now it has been destroyed, this is all the result of the Ministry of Transport's policy and excessive regulation.
Patrakov noted that the strict requirements equally affect not only airlines but also airfields.
We need to build a mini-Sheremetyevo there, but it is economically impractical to maintain it. Although you can simply roll out a strip with a bulldozer for landing a light aircraft, it is quite easy to maintain. This is done in Alaska, for example, for some reason there are no safety problems there.
The problem directly concerns the certification of aircraft, Patrakov continued. For example, the airline S7 is making its own light manned aircraft. However, it will cost a billion rubles just to certify it.
They don't even plan to, although the company is large and quite wealthy, but it cannot afford it.
Patrakov drew attention to the fact that abroad, the certification of such aircraft is much cheaper. For example, in the United States, a new program has recently been launched that significantly simplifies the process.
There are manufacturers of light aircraft in Russia, they are still alive not thanks to, but in spite of. But they work for abroad, because we have a good school, high-quality products. In the world, these aircraft are recognized in many countries, but they are not certified in the Russian Federation, because it is difficult and expensive. And most importantly - there is no need. Even if you spend a billion, you will never recoup it, because it is impossible to be profitable in the economics of airlines without subsidies. Regional transportation is practically zeroing out for us.
Pilot Alexey Lyubko also stated that small regional aviation in Russia is in a deplorable state due to the obsolescence of equipment.