“Fly Aeroflot!” - This famous slogan has been familiar since the distant Soviet times. Then only one state-owned enterprise was engaged in air transportation, there were no competitors. Therefore, it is pleasant and surprising that, against the backdrop of the complete collapse of the enterprises of the Soviet era, Aeroflot survived and is quite competitive. Whose merit? Perhaps Vitaly Savelyev, CEO of Aeroflot.
I would go to the ministers, let them teach me
As a child, Vitaly Savelyev dreamed of becoming a Minister of Construction. To do this, he drew a staircase of eleven steps. And he began to realize his childhood dream. He graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute and received the profession of engineer. Of good will, in 1977 he was sent to the construction site of the century - the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station. He starts with a modest position as a commissioning engineer.
Once, a fire broke out at the plant, where a young engineer moved a conveyor gallery with a tractor, burning the weight of the workshop. The chief engineer was already ready to “beat” the initiative subordinate, but the head of the fire department recognized this move as the most successful, otherwise the whole plant would have burned down. Anger of the authorities verse. For seven years, he has gone from engineer to chief designer of one of the associations "KrasnoyarskGESstroy".
Career ladder
Further on the list, drawn up in childhood, was the acquisition of the necessary connections. In 1984, the future director of Aeroflot Vitaly Savelyev returned to Leningrad to the post of deputy managing director of the All-Union Trust Sevzapmetallurgmontazh. A dream led him up, and already at the age of 33 he became the deputy chief of the head department of Glavleningradinzhstroy. It’s just a stone's throw to the minister’s chair, or two steps: the chief of the chief and the deputy minister. But even then, the young man had everything that a simple Soviet citizen could dream of: special security, an official car, and business trips abroad. But…
He sharply retrained from an engineer to a banker: first, from 1989 to 1993, he heads the Russian-American joint venture DialogInvest, then chairs the banks Rossiya and MENATEP St. Petersburg.
Higher and higher
Looking back at the past director of Aeroflot Savelyev, we can conclude how fate was favorable to him. From the age of 30 he occupies only leading positions. Work at the Menatep Bank in St. Petersburg gave Savelyev connections that led him to a close acquaintance with the head of state.
When the personnel reorganization of Gazprom began, St. Petersburg ties turned out to be the strongest. Alexey Miller was appointed to the post of chairman of the board, and Vitaly Savelyev as his deputy for financial matters. A new broom mercilessly raised the dust of an established control system. From the old team there was only one deputy Rodionov, who could not calmly watch how the debugged mechanism collapsed before our eyes. Intricate schemes, subsidiaries, Sibur's debts - that was what the new team of top managers should understand. The radical debt reorganization plan proposed by Savelyev did not work, largely due to opposition from the old guard - debts were growing by leaps and bounds. In the end, Savelyev, who had not worked at Gazprom for a year, was fired due to total incompatibility with his superiors, i.e. with Miller. The deputy was more independent and ambitious than the head of Gazprom.
Such shots on the road do not lie
Years of experience and the right connections do their good deed. For 7 years, Vitaly Savelyev managed to drive more than nine companies, including Russian Development Bank OJSC, MTS OJSC, ShiamTelink, an Indian company, etc. It turned out that Saveliev, having a basic economic education, which he received in 1986, can manage organizations in any field. Such frames are worth its weight in gold.
Therefore, in April 2009, Vitaly Savelyev joined Aeroflot as a general director. Vitaly Savelyev’s colleagues and subordinates emphasize several features of his character: he is tough, purposeful, ambitious and assertive. At the same time, with those who are useful, it can be soft and pleasant. But definitely not with his subordinates, he does not spoil them. For any wrongdoing or being late for meetings can be erased into powder.
The first pancake is lumpy
The practice of appointing people who are far from the specifics of enterprises as managers often leads to disastrous results. Having a household vein is not enough; you need to know the work, as they say, from the inside. Aeroflot did not escape embarrassment. Savelyev became CEO in April 2009. And as a person who has an idea of air transportation only from the point of view of a passenger, naturally, he did not suspect that by the onset of winter it was necessary to purchase an anti-icer for aircraft.
At the end of December 2010, due to this oversight, thousands of passengers accumulated at Sheremetyevo Airport who checked in and literally became hostages of the airport. In those days, more than 40 flights were canceled, and passengers were kept in the dark until the last. This incident not only spoiled the nerves of passengers and sharply lowered Aeroflot's rating, Savelyev, as director, “earned” losses by 20 million rubles. This is only one trouble, followed by others.
Trouble has come - open the gate
Not the smallest cyber attack scandal occurred in the same 2010. A hacker attack was carried out on the Assist system, which blocked the service for a week. This led to the fact that during the week passengers could not book tickets online. The incident caused losses to Aeroflot, Savelyev did not receive 146 million rubles. Against this background, the contract with Assist is terminated and an agreement is concluded with Alfa Bank.
There are two versions for whom this was beneficial. The first is the director general of the Chronopey company Vrublevsky organizes a DDoS attack on the Aeroflot website. Vrublevsky has grandiose plans: to eliminate a competitor and get a solid client in the person of Director of Aeroflot Savelyev. The plan was partially successful. The competitor was dismissed, but the head of Chronopey and his subordinates, who participated in the cyber attack, were put on trial.
Version number two
The second version is the actions of the director of Aeroflot Savelyev. Even at the MENATEP Bank, he developed a fruitful tandem with Kirill Bogdanov, who was one of the founders of the small IT company Ramax International. The company specialized in software development. Wherever Vitaly Savelyev subsequently worked, invariably this company, as well as Kirill Bogdanov, followed him, fulfilling orders for computer software.
This little-known company for its development took fabulous amounts, when other, more venerable companies had very affordable prices. But it was Ramax International that always received the best order. It is likely that money backtracks went through it, otherwise there is no way to explain such affection for the company of the director of Aeroflot Savelyev to this company. That’s why, as soon as Saveliev took the director’s chair, there was a cyber attack on the Aeroflot website. The result is a change of partner and a solid order for Ramax International to create a new website for the airline. According to experts, the site turned out pretty poor, and, of course, for the money that the company received, it was possible to do something better. The version was not taken into account by the investigating authorities.
Amazing but true
In the biography of Savelyev and Aeroflot there is an amazing page related to the Dobrolet low-cost airline. But first things first. In 2012, due to constant criticism of the company for expensive tickets, Vitaly Savelyev came up with the idea of creating an economy class airline Dobrolet with budget tickets. The idea was supported by Vladimir Putin, and there was even a resolution “For immediate execution”, but things are quickly done only on paper.
The issue was stalled because Savelyev demanded the impossible from officials - to change the Air Code. In order for the company to be unprofitable, it was necessary to introduce a system of non-refundable tickets, remove compulsory meals, reduce baggage allowance and allow foreigners to work in Russian civil aviation. Naturally, officials and deputies who were supposed to make changes to the aviation and labor legislation reasonably noted that changing laws is too difficult, and a low-cost airline can be launched like that.
Didn’t run into that
However, Savelyev was not going to give up so easily and repeat the fate of other bankrupt airlines. A year and a half, the director and his subordinates literally bombarded officials with letters, went to constant meetings, and even had to be threatened. Officials surrendered after several hundred persistent letters and meetings. Savelyev got what he wanted: the cost of the low-cost airline business decreased due to non-refundable tickets, paid baggage and paid food.
With clipped wings
But if you think that the biography of Vitaly Savelyev and Aeroflot is strewn only with roses and consists of victories alone, this will be a profound mistake. The fact is that Aeroflot, in fact, belongs to the state and exists thanks to state subsidies.
Since the company is state-owned, the management also has to fulfill state tasks that do not fit well with the laws of business. For example, to buy domestic aircraft to support Russian manufacturers, and the quality of these aircraft is several times inferior to foreign ones. Or as it was in 2015. Government officials set a task for Savelyev to accept the unprofitable Transaero airline into their ranks. And it is not only necessary to coordinate the entire passenger flow, flights, etc., but, most importantly, Aeroflot must assume obligations for the company's debts, which amounted to 260 billion rubles. The cargo, as they say, is exorbitant, but it is also impossible to refuse.
