Vitaly Gennadyevich Savelyev (russian: Виталий Геннадьевич Савельев; born January 18, 1954) is a Russian businessman and politician serving as the Minister of Transport since 10 November 2020. Previously, he served as the chairman and CEO of Aeroflot, Russia's largest airline, from 2009 to 2020.

Biography

Vitaly Savelyev was born on January 18, 1954, in

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

. In 1977, he graduated from the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute (Mechanical Engineering), and earned a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in economics in 1986 from the

Leningrad Engineering and Economics Institute The Saint Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics was a public university in Russia , which was known as ENGECON (Russian: ''ИНЖЭКОН''). It is now a part of Saint Petersburg State University of Economics, which was created ...

. From 1977 to 1984, Vitaly Savelyev worked at the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

Ministry of Energy (

Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam The Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam (russian: Сая́но-Шу́шенская гидроэлектроста́нция, ''Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydroelektrostantsiya'') is located on the Yenisei River, near Sayanogorsk in Khakassia, Russia. It is the la ...

). He became Deputy Director of the All-Union SevZapMetallurgMontazh Trust in 1984, and Deputy Director of the GlavLeningradEngStroy Chief Directorate in 1987. In 1989, he was named President of Russian-American DialogInvest JV, Chairman of the Executive Board of Rossiya Bank in 1993, and Chairman of the Executive Board of

Menatep Bank "MENATEP", Bank "MENATEP SPb" (Russian: Банк "МЕНАТЕП Санкт-Петербург" / Банк «МЕНАТЕП СПб») and "Group Menatep Limited" were financial companies, created by Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky. " ...

in 1995. In 2001-2002, he was Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of OJSC

Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the largest ...

, * 2001 − present — Member of the Council of the Association of Russian Banks * 2002 − 2004 — Gros United Company, Vice-President * 2004 − 2007 — Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Deputy Minister * 2007 − 2009 — AFK

Sistema AFK Sistema PAO is a large Russian conglomerate company, founded by Vladimir Yevtushenkov, who was chairman of the corporation's board of directors until 2022. In April, Yevtushenkov's shareholding in Sistema has decreased to 49.2%, and he also s ...

, First Vice-President * 2009 − present — OJSC Aeroflot – Russian Airlines, Director General * 2020 − present - Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev served as chairman of the boards at

All-Russia Exhibition Centre Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (russian: Выставка достижений народного хозяйства, ''Vystavka dostizheniy narodnogo khozyaystva'', abbreviated as VDNKh or VDNH, russian: ВДНХ, ) is a perman ...

, OJSC Russian Development Bank, MTS, Komstar, OJSC SMM, CJSC SkyLink, and Shiam Telelink. In 2010, Russian president

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime m ...

tasked Vitaly Savelyev to transform Aeroflot in Russia's first full-fledged airline group. Many regional carriers were merged with Aeroflot. In 2013, he made Aeroflot the main sponsor of the UK soccer team

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. He introduced Aeroflot's new low-cost airline Pobeda in 2014 and actively contributed to bend Russia's aviation code to favor the development of airline activities. In June 2017, he announced that 40% of Aeroflot's fleet would be composed of domestic aircraft (including Irkut aircraft). Between 2009 and 2017, the number of passengers carried by Aeroflot grew from 8.9 million to 50.1 million. In August 2018, he was reelected CEO of Aeroflot. In 2018, the US added Vitaly Saveley in its "Kremlin List", not a sanction, rather a way to identify Russia's top economic agents. In May 2022 the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

placed sanctions on him pursuant to as a member of the Government of Russia.

Minister of Transport

On 9 November 2020, Prime Minister

Mikhail Mishustin Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin ( rus, links=no, Михаил Владимирович Мишустин, , mixɐˈil vlɐˈdʲimʲirəvʲitɕ miˈʂusʲtʲɪn; born 3 March 1966) is a Russian politician and economist serving as the prime minist ...

nominated Savelyev for the Minister of Transport after the resignation of Yevgeny Dietrich. On 10 November, Savelyev's candidacy was approved by the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper hous ...

and on the same day, President

signed a decree appointing Savelyev to the post of Minister.

Personal life

Savelyev was a boxer and achieved the rank of Candidate for Master of Sport of the USSR. He is married and has two sons and one daughter.

Honours and awards

Order of Honour (Russian Federation) The Order of Honour ( rus, орден Почёта, r=orden Pachyota) is a state order of the Russian Federation established by Presidential Decree No. 442 of March 2, 1994 to recognise high achievements in government, economic, scientific, socio ...

Medal "In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg" The Medal "In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg" (russian: Медаль «В память 300-летия Санкт-Петербурга») is a state commemorative medal of the Russian Federation established on February ...

* Medal "In Commemoration of the 1000th Anniversary of Kazan" * “Leader of the Year” category winner at “Person of the Year 2011” award according to RosBusinessConsulting (RBC), Russia’s leading Internet holding company (2012).RosBusinessConsulting
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References and notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Savelyev, Vitaly 1954 births Aeroflot Living people Russian businesspeople Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia) Engineers from Tashkent Chief executives in the airline industry Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University alumni United Russia politicians Government ministers of Russia Russian individuals subject to the European Union sanctions Politicians from Tashkent