Charles Alcock is managing editor of the AIN Media Group, having rejoined the company in 2019. He has been an aviation journalist since 1986, and previously worked for AIN from 1990 to 2017, most recently as editor-in-chief. His main focus is on covering new aviation technology and business models, as well as international news.
Having been raised in the London area, Alcock studied at the University of Manchester in the UK and earned an honors degree in Politics and Modern History. He speaks English and French, and some German.

Managing Editor

Charles Alcock

Business aviation continues to grow in Russia but it is no longer expanding at the rates observed few years ago, according to Eugeny Bakhtin, vice president of the Russian United Business Aviation Association (RUBAA). 
“We used to have annual increases of 40 to 50 percent,” he said. “Today our development continues at the rate of 10 to 12 percent year on year. [However], despite the notable slowdown in the rates, we still enjoy a steady increase.” He explained that the slowdown is due to the growing maturity of the local market.
“Our numerical strength [at RUBAA] has been growing as more corporations, companies and private owners apply for membership. We are nearing 100 members,” Bakhtin told AIN. He attributes this increase to the growing popularity of the association within the aviation community and its increasing influence on the public and government. 
“The hefty customs duties on imported business aircraft are a thing of the past now,” he said, adding, “Russia has joined the Cape Town convention, which resulted in better protection of lessors and the aircraft owner’s rights. In fact, [these protections] are now at the same level in Russia and Western Europe.”
A core activity of the association involves work with legislators to create a better environment for business aviation operations. “Our main goal is to make business aviation more accessible to a wider circle of industrialists and entrepreneurs,” he said. “In particular, we want to see wider use of business aircraft by corporations, not so much by their chief executives, but rather by middle-range managers, since the top executives have long been doing that already.” 
To help achieve this goal, RUBAA is seeking ways to reduce MRO and airport charges applied to business aircraft. The association also has some “tactical targets,” such as “elimination of unnecessary bureaucratic barriers,” which make everyday life difficult for business jet operators. 
“Management in many local airports either does not allow business aviation in or tries to rob it, which is essentially the same thing,” Bakhtin claimed. “That’s why RUBAA is paying special attention to providing some level of legal protection [via federal laws] for business and general aviation in the provincial airports,” he said.
The association is also looking for ways to help investors willing to develop business and general aviation at airports obtain permission to do so from local authorities and airport management.

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