Ural Airlines

State influence:

Ural Airlines is one of the largest rapidly developing Russian airlines. New Russian, CIS, and international destinations are added to the airline’s flight network every year. Company was originally part of Aeroflot, but was privatized in 1993[43].

Currently, state does not have any direct control over the company. However, it influences the company in the same way as other private airlines: the state is able to regulate and restrict airline’s activities via aviation safety laws and by controlling the airports.

Internationalization:

Country	The company makes regularly scheduled flights to Ukraine, Germany, Armenia, Turkey and Uzbekistan[44].
Year of entry
Industry/ business area	Air transportation services: · Regularly-scheduled passenger flights · Chartered flights · Cargo and mail air transportation
Entry mode	N/A
Motives	Company mostly flies to former CIS and Eastern Bloc countries, which are culturally similar to Russia and which still have close connections with Russia. For example, one possible reason for having international routes to Central Asia is to serve migrant workers, while flights to Bulgaria may accommodate Russian tourists to this country.
Firm specific advantagesused on the foreign market	Compared to other Russian airlines, most of which are based in Moscow, Ural airlines’ hub is in Ekaterinburg. Because of this, the airline is able to connect many locations in the Urals or Volga region of Russia with each other, as well as with foreign locations without stopovers in Moscow. Most other airlines with hubs in Moscow, first of all, do not directly connect cities in Urals, Volga, or Southern Russia regions, or, secondly, require travelers from Urals/Volga to foreign destinations to change planes in Moscow. Urals airline flies many routes directly from regional airports. In addition, for a Russian local air carrier, the company has a very modern plane fleet, operating only Airbuses[45].
First mover or follower	Combination: originally, the company was part of Aeroflot, which was the first mover in the industry and the only airlines during the Soviet times. In 1993 it became an independent, private airline, and ceased to be part of the first mover. At this time, there were already several private airlines, such as Transaero. In this sense, it is a follower, because, first of all, Aeroflot, the real first mover, continues to exist and nobody associates Ural Airlines brand with Aeroflot, and, second of all, it is not the first private airline. However, Urals airlines, when it separated from Aeroflot, obtained some of Soviet Aeroflot’s equipment and routes, which complicates the case. All in all, it is more of a follower than a first mover.
Type of state involvementin the process of internationalization	No, the company is fully private.
Evaluationof the success of the internationalization	The company’s main business is still in domestic air transportation; thus, because it only has a couple of international routes, it is hard to evaluate the success of its internationalization. However, since it continues to fly these routes, we can assume that they are profitable and successful.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14