OREANDA-NEWS. On 17 July 2009 was announced, that UTair Aviation, JSC (UTair Aviation) Board of Directors had decided to adjust the Company’s Business Plan for year 2009.

The main reason for the Company to adjust the current Business Plan for year 2009 is the change of the external conditions of doing business. Since the third quarter of 2008 and up to the present some very significant changes of macroeconomic conditions have taken place, namely changes in currency rates and aviation fuel costs. The need to adjust Business Plan is also called for by the crisis in aviation industry which has resulted in drastic market shrinking.

According to the revised Business Plan in 2009 the Company is expecting to increase the number of carried passengers up to 3,8 million people in comparison with the initial figure. This will make a 15% rise as compared to the corresponding figure for 2008. This will be achieved by the increase of the average aircraft load factor and route network optimization.

According to the new plan UTair fixed-winged aircraft are going to fly 168 thousand hours, which will slightly surpass the figure of 2008.

Helicopter revenue flight time will total more than 63 thousand hours according to the plan which is an insignificant cut. In comparison with the result for the year 2008 the flight revenue time will see an almost 5% growth.

Based on the results of 2009 the estimated annual profit of UTair Aviation will amount to more than 41 billion rubles which exceeds the 2008 figure by 15 %. The revenue from the Company’s major business activities will total to more than 36 billion rubles.

UTair Aviation, JSC gross profit (EBIT) in 2009 will show 3,5 times increase compared with the corresponding 2008 figure and make up 4 billion rubles.

UTair Chief Executive Officer called the adjusted Business Plan "moderately optimistic". "Despite the depressive atmosphere in the aviation industry UTair manages to come up with relatively good results as compared to the industry average. These results are achieved due to the diversified business structure and the company’s crisis management experience", underscored Andrey Martirisov.