Ski Trips
U.S. agents are meanwhile searching for assets including private aircraft that wealthy Russians may have hidden behind shell companies, John Tobon, who heads the Department of Homeland Security’s financial investigations unit, said in May.
Many Russian owners domicile planes in Switzerland or Austria and have companies in those countries to manage them, according to Avinode’s Henriksson. Russia itself has only 53 registered business jets, versus 244 in Austria, according to the Corporate Jet Investor website. The U.S. is by far the biggest base for the aircraft, with more than 12,500 listed.
With summer visits to the French Riviera on the decline, Alpine ski trips similarly popular with Russian private jet customers are also facing a slump, Geneva Airport CEO Robert Deillon said in an interview.
“I don’t know if we will see many Russians in Courchevel this winter,” he said.