Troubled airline experiences extensive delays

The troubled airline alliance AirUnion -- which includes the regional airlines KrasAir, Domodedovo Airlines, Omskavia, Samara Airlines and Sibaviatrans -- has been experiencing extensive flight delays since August 2008 due to a cash crisis and unpaid fuel debts. Flights from Moscow's Domodedovo Airport (UUDD/DME) to Samara, Vladivostok, Blagoveshchensk and Tashkent that were scheduled to depart on 2 September 2008 have not yet taken off as of 3 September. In recent days, flights have also experienced long delays and cancellations at other airports in Moscow, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Tomsk. Airports in Krasnodar, Anapa and Sochi are reportedly refusing to allow aircraft affiliated with the alliance to operate without prepayment. AirUnion had earlier been granted a government allotment of 24,000 tons of fuel for use over the period 26 August-14 September to help ease the crisis.