OREANDA-NEWS. April 28, 2010. The 9th Arbitration Appeal Court confirmed validity of the decision of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) that "Creditinvest" Ltd. (a refueling operator at the airport of Mineralnie Vody) violated the law on protection of competition. The company refused to grant "Aeroflot - Russian Airlines" OJSC a possibility to deliver its own fuel to the airport, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

In April 2009, FAS Russia initialed cases against airports and refueling companies operating in the Airports of Anapa, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Kaliningrad, Mineralnie Vody and Khabarovsk.

The cases were initiated upon an "Aeroflot" petition stating, in particular, that the air carrier was refused possibilities to deliver its own fuel.

Upon investigating one of those cases - against "Creditinvest" Ltd. - FAS Russia found that the company violated Part 1 Article 10 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition" (prohibiting abuse of market dominance). Actions of "Creditinvest" Ltd. prevented access of "Aeroflot" to the market of aviation fuel and the market of services for aviation fuel supplies at the airport of Mineralnie Vody. Its actions also created discriminatory conditions for different air carriers and, therefore, could have resulted in restricting competition on the market of air passenger transportation through the airport of Mineralnie Vody.

Upon investigating the case, FAS Russia issued a determination to "Creditinvest" Ltd. to stop violating the antimonopoly legislation.