‘Koltsovo airport of Yekaterinburg will surely find it hard to prove that the recent increase in the price of the jet fuel was justified. The mere comparison of the European market’s prices and the Russian market’s ones makes it obvious that Koltsovo is not particularly good at dealing with financial issues; nor is it a very effective business,’ says lawyer Ivan Kadochnikov.

‘I believe that, unlike most other Russian airports, Koltsovo will be subject to a very thorough scrutiny. Firstly, this airport has already clashed with the Federal Antimonopoly Service and had to pay a 13-million-ruble fine. Secondly, Koltsovo has raised its fuel prices for the third time since the beginning of this year,’ he observes.

The airport introduced price increases two times in May 2008, so the price went up from 23,300 RUR per ton on April 30, 2008 to 24,360 RUR per ton on May 1, 2008. The price increase therefore reached over 4.5%. The airport’s management announced a ton of jet fuel would cost 30,600 RUR starting June 21, 2008.