Fledgling Company Landing Deal in Russia : Agreement: California Kamchatka says it will get permission to turn airport into a sort of truck stop for cargo jets.
An Orange County company said Thursday that it would soon get permission to schedule giant cargo jets flying from Asia to make refueling stops at a Russian airport, saving both time and money.
The California Kamchatka Co. proposes to transform the airport in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy into a truck stop of the skies by offering refueling, aircraft repair and airline crew rest facilities. Its supporters believe the site is perfectly located for cargo jets, which have a more limited range than passenger jets because of their heavier loads.
The Russian airport would be able to shave at least 10% off the $12,000 landing fees charged in Tokyo, where jet freighters bound from Hong Kong to the West Coast often land to top off their fuel tanks.
The Kamchatka Peninsula, not far from where Korean Air Lines Flight OO7 was shot down by a Soviet fighter in 1983, is farther north and more conveniently located than Tokyo or Seoul. It has been closed for years to outsiders because the peninsula is home to sensitive military installations.
But with the opening of closer relations with the United States, the Russians welcomed a visit to the peninsula last summer by a group of Americans that included Steven S. Myers, president of a Newport Beach firm that specializes in making contract proposals for the aerospace industry.
Myers, in turn, formed the California Kamchatka Co. as a subsidiary when the Russians expressed an interest in developing their airport. Under a proposed agreement to be signed next week, the Californians would manage the ground crews and the Russians would handle air traffic control. The landing fees would be evenly split, said Chief Operating Officer Dennis Crosby.
He said the company hopes to open the airport to cargo aircraft by May 1. The operation would create jobs for 35 to 40 Russians of various trades, who would be joined by about 10 American trainers and supervisors. The operations manager, former Soviet rocket scientist Viktor Kerzhanovich, is helping to plan the operation from Newport Beach.
A few problems, such as finding more English-speaking air traffic controllers and installing better communications equipment, have cropped up, but “no show stoppers,” Crosby said. Two major airlines, which he declined to identify, have expressed a strong interest in using the airport, he said.
Crosby said he hopes the group eventually will seek other investment opportunities in Kamchatka. The area consists mostly of forests and natural wonders, such as active volcanoes and geysers, holding the potential for tourism development, he said.
