Yuri Tiptsov of Business Aviation Ltd and Martin Lener of Tyrolean Jet Services in Moscow

Russian broker unveils plans for travel agency

Russian broker Business Aviation Ltd plans to launch a travel agency in 2010. The company, established since 2003, provides charter aircraft for Russian and European clients. Co-founder Yuri Tiptsov says it also arranges associated services and facilities including vip lounges, limousines, apartments and yachts.

Tiptsov and his co-founders Lev Gorbunov and Oksana Shepel all have aviation backgrounds. Gorbunov worked for S-11, one of the first Russian brokers, Shepel was commercial director at Orel city airport and Tiptsov gained experience with Aeroflot and Transaero and in immigration at Sheremetyevo airport.

The three met while working at VIP-Service-2000, a small broker that operated two Yak-40s and a Tupolev-134 in jet configuration. The launch of Business Aviation Ltd followed.

Tiptsov says: “We have had six wonderful and successful years. We specialise in aviation brokerage mostly for Russian clients but we have a growing number of enquiries from Europe. From time to time we manage and operate different aircraft ranging from the Falcon 900B and Hawker 800XP to the Tu-134, Yak-40 and BAC 1-11.”

Business Aviation Ltd decided against becoming a charter operator in 2008 through the purchase of a Legacy 600. “We decided to stay as a pure charter broker and maximise our potential as one of the largest companies of its kind in Russia,” Tiptsov says. “However, we do want to diversify in 2010 and we plan to open our own travel agency and start selling tickets on commercial airliners as a complementary activity to our private charter broker services.”

The company’s established European partners include Tyrolean Jet Services and prestige previous assignments include work carried out for the European Space Agency.