BLACKLIST.AERO – 3 YEARS! GET READY: THE MAIN BATTLE IS JUST BEGINNING

Is three years for the company too much or too little? According to the standards of human life, BLACKLIST.AERO is still in the nursery group of the kindergarten: there are many things you don’t know and can’t do. Everything has to be learned as you grow up.

On the other hand, during these three years, in front of our eyes, so many companies were born and already died that the age of 3 years already seems like the “age of maturity”. Taking into account that in February 2022 we started a path that no one has ever walked before (and to this day no one has dared to repeat it), then in our case every hour can be compared to three years of the life of an ordinary company.

You all witnessed how eventful these three years were for BLACKLIST.AERO. We succeed in many things. But even more than that, in which we have to improve, gain experience and transform it into results. Now a small report on what we managed to do during this time in numbers:

SUBMITTED CASES – 312

TOTAL CLAIM AMOUNT – USD 20M+

RESOLVED CASES – 73

DECLINED CASES – 9

TOTAL REFUNDED AMOUNT – USD 2.72M

But I personally consider the most important achievement to be that in these three years, none of the ‘heroes’ of my articles have ever been able to refute ONE published fact! Yes, we forced them to react to our public actions. But in their comments, all of them as one avoid commenting on the facts, shifting the blame to the fact that, say, we have ‘wrong motivation’ and

THE NUMBERS YOU’VE ALWAYS ASKED ABOUT

And now I will reveal the numbers that many people asked about, but most of all those who admitted to me that they wanted to create something similar, but were afraid that either they would not be able to afford it financially, or they did not want to get involved in violent battles with scammers:

1. Amount spent on launching BLACKLIST.AERO in 2022 – USD 28,000. My own funds. We have NEVER had outside investors.

I have been saving for a new car for several years in order to buy it without any bank loan. But instead, I invested all the money in my idea (no, I’m lying - three or four thousand bucks were still left at the time of launch). And not once during all these 3 years did I regret my decision.

2. Amount spent on direct advertising and PR of BLACKLIST.AERO for 3 years – 0 USD/EUR

That’s right, we have never paid for advertising. The main advertising for us was done either by the participants of the aviation market, whom we helped to restore justice, or by defaulters and fraudsters themselves. Who, with their screams, hysterical outbursts, intrigues, and fabricated articles about BLACKLIST.AERO, had raced our brand so much that they provided us with a triumphant end to the third year of our project! The number of cases, which began to be closed even before their publication in the Register, has grown many times over the past two-three months!

“Everything that is written about you in the newspapers - if it is not an obituary, then it is advertising.” These words belong to Boris Berezovsky, for cooperation with whom in the period 2006-2008, the current creators of fakes about me try to call me either “Russian” or “pro-Russian”. For God’s sake! I have nothing to hide from people. Unlike “very British Cambridge graduates” and “Ukrainian yachtsmen” with Russian passports deep in the safe, which they are afraid to show.

In contrast to these “werewolves”, I was lucky enough to know really decent people from Russia, who never doubted that the war unleashed by Putin is a crime against humanity, fascism, for which he will have to answer. People who are not afraid openly declare it and help Ukrainian refugees. But it so, lyrical retreat...

Yes, from the point of view of efficiency, we have something to brag about. Make all these crooks to be the best advertisers of BLACKLIST.AERO, and even so that with their attempts of such “advertising” they themselves gradually kill their business, and bring new claimants to us - well, isn’t that cool?! As one experienced person told me: “If these idiots hadn’t come first, you should have to create them. Everyone sees that if they fight with you, then you are doing everything right!”

But this project was never a “business” for me in its classical sense. Because if the main thing in our business was financial efficiency, economic expediency, then it would be much easier for all these defaulters and fraudsters to come to an agreement with us.

Hell, not only for non-payers - it would be easier for those who complain about them too! And since we do not allow either the first or the second to use BLACKLIST.AERO for banal settling of scores, while remaining in the shadows, we do not receive dirty money either. However, many other mass media, as we can see, do not consider them dirty at all and do not hesitate to make money from this kind of PR. For them, this is a business, and what is the difference - whether they will love-bomb and praise someone for money, or bad mouth, the main thing is that they are paid for it...

WE PRESS - ROT COMES UP

Most of the cases that were described by me in articles over these three years were not random defaults that can happen to almost every company. Most often, these are cases of systemic defaults, which are truly a “business model” for their creators. They grew these festering boils inside their companies, parasitizing healthy companies and infecting them with this infection.

It was enough to press harder on these boils, and you and I became witnesses of what kind of rot poured out from there. On the one hand, only a few doubted the fact that the most odious heroes of our cases are extremely dishonest people. On the other hand, when all this pus poured out of their boils, no one could believe that they would stoop to what you all witnessed. Many of you know these people personally. And when you saw what poured out of their mouths, what villainy they were capable of, I know firsthand that many of you felt disgusted with these personalities.

What is the reason for such a reaction? The fact is that many of those crooks whom we pursue are recognized as real psychopaths, and with frank megalomania. You should have seen what kind of messages they write to me in WhatsApp: this is an unimaginable mixture of manic delusions! And if you properly study the “history” of their debts, you can objectively conclude - most often they arise precisely because of the extremely inflated ego of the owners of the companies. They are so desperately trying to show their hollow success, they spend such crazy budgets on risky projects and on their own PR in the hope of throwing dust in the eyes of the public, that when the time comes to pay the bills, they simply refuse to believe the fact that they are already “standing at the cash desk”! And when reality catches them, it gets a rise out of them, and they have hysterical outburst. And you have the “pleasure” to watch the fruits of this hysterical outburst, especially in the last months.

Well, this is also one of our missions - to accumulate all this negativity from these crooks so that you can clearly see how much dark thoughts rule them. And what are they capable of in their attempts to escape from public responsibility for their machinations. And we will continue to tear off these masks. Because when the participants of the aviation market discover what all these personalities are, the desire to cooperate with them disappears very quickly. BLACKLIST.AERO here is just a litmus test, through which what was previously hidden can be seen.

They lose members of their teams in these dirty attempts. People inside these companies, first of all, see for themselves where everything is headed. Non-payments to counterparties gradually turn into non-payment of salaries within companies. All this external nervousness turns into taking out malice on one’s own employees. And secondly, people in these companies simply do not want to be a part of this whole sad story.

OUR LOSSES

But not only they lost people, but we too. In June 2024, Volodymyr (Vova) Brazhnyk passed away. Working in the Operations team, he often had to track and pursue aviation crooks not only under the sound of air raid sirens, but also under the sound of missiles and drones shoot down (and sometimes “incoming strikes” unfortunately). Colorfully cursing at what was happening outside the windows, he continued to work as long as there was Internet, while there was electricity. If there was no electricity during the day, he tried to make up for what he had missed at night, although no one would ever say a word to him or any other member of the team for the fact that sometimes it was impossible to work normally for whole days due to air attacks and power cuts.

This was his own war against fraudsters, a war to restore justice. He set at naught on his aortic aneurysm, about which he was silent until the last. And he stubbornly tracked all the movements of aircraft, any actions of companies - non-payers and their owners, regardless of the bombings of Kyiv. His heart could not stand it. More than six months have passed since that moment, but when we periodically talk about Vova within the team, we admit to each other that his voice is often somewhere in the back of everyone’s mind, and we miss his grumbling like air. Simply even in order to feel the integrity of the team.

Oleksander (Sasha) Pashyn was another guy we were waiting for in our team from the war. I remember how this young man came to me in the department that I managed at my former place of work. Very modest, said little, did a lot. I saw that he is one of those who isn’t a person “whatever, just to get rid of.” He wanted to achieve a result on principle. That was always ingrained in me.

When I had already started the BLACKLIST.AERO project, I found out that Sasha resigned from the company and volunteered to the war. And only after that I learned his story. He comes from Makiivka, Donetsk region. His hometown was occupied by Russian troops back in 2015. Then he and his sister, who also adheres to pro-Ukrainian views, left for Kyiv. And their parents, who welcomed the invaders, stayed in Makiivka.

That’s how, having lost both a small homeland and his parents at a young age, Sasha started his life anew in Kyiv. He never talked about the power of his convictions with anyone, except his closest friend, the current BLACKLIST.AERO Operations director Alex Melnychenko, with whom they have been inseparable since graduating from the Kirovohrad Flight Academy.

When I found out that Sasha went as a volunteer, I told my team that a position in Operations would be waiting for him whenever he returns from the war. We did not hire anyone to his place, we were waiting for Sasha. But we waited in vain. He died near Zaporizhzhya in July 2023. A thermobaric charge flew into the dugout, burning everything and everyone inside. His best friend Alex Melnychenko had to identify his remains from the photo. And it was possible to do only by the watch that Alex had previously gifted Sasha and by the preserved tattoo on his arm. The sister was able to bury his body only after a year...

Yes, I know that after a few years the pain of losing our dear people will dull. But it will not disappear forever. And no matter what success we achieve in the future, we will always be hurt by the fact that we cannot share this success with those who will forever remain part of the BLACKLIST.AERO team.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NEXT

The most interesting and tense period of our activity begins - the main battle. All these three years, you have watched with genuine interest how the events unfolded around the cases in BLACKLIST.AERO and the personalities in my articles. You rejoiced at our successes and supported, supported, supported. Both publicly and privately. But nevertheless, all these three years BLACKLIST.AERO was for you a “loud startup”, “cool guys who challenged” and so on. This is definitely flattering. But this is not enough - both for you and for us, the BLACKLIST.AERO team. Because you and we want to make sure that justice exists and that it is worth fighting for. That this is not quixotic, but an action plan that leads to global results in one particular industry.

Both you and we want to make sure that meanness and fraud do not lead to success. That anyway, it’s a one-way ticket. And our task for the next 2-3 years is to provide this public end to the most odious fraudsters in the aviation market. Although, they do have another option - sudden enlightenment and abandonment of fraudulent activities.

But we will not be able to expel them from Aviation if you only watch and furtively applaud our actions. You must understand that BLACKLIST.AERO is not just a small team of enthusiasts. BLACKLIST.AERO is an aviation community of people who care. And those who are willing contribute to the establishment of justice.

BLACKLIST.AERO is primarily principles. Principles of professional solidarity, maximum transparency and publicity. And in the coming months and years, we will not just put pressure on crooks. We will also put pressure on you, those who support us “in general”, but are afraid to act when it concerns a specific case and affects the interests of your company.

It was this indecision that was fertile ground for the proliferation of non-payments or outright fraud in the aviation market in previous years. No financial crises and Covids spread this bacillus like IMPUNITY. And if you continue to indulge crooks, even not daring to tell a specific person whom you know and with whom you are “friends”, but who went down the inclined path: “Listen to me, you can’t do that! I’m talking to you as a friend!”, then how do you expect to live until the moment when TRUST returns to the market, when everyone will be able to work in a better - less dangerous - business environment?! Think about it. Think carefully. The time of “observation and non-interference” has passed. The time for action has come. You should decide!

WHAT WILL OUR OPPONENTS DO

Those with whom we are fighting understand that a new, much more tense period is coming. In recent months, we have more and more often exposed the facts of not only fraud, but also corruption in various aviation and aviation- related structures. Those who are assigned the role of not just an observer, but a controller in the aviation sphere, often turn out to be corrupt, like the Colombian policemen. We see it in different countries and will talk about it.

Of course, we make new enemies. Among them are politicians, oligarchs, and arms barons. But it is better to see an open enemy in front of you, than a two-faced being who will pretend to be your friend until the end of time, and at the same time will accumulate poison so that they will stick a poisoned knife in your back as soon as you turn away. We are not afraid of the number and power of enemies. The bigger and stronger they are, the easier it is to use their power against themselves.

During these 3 years, they realized that with the ways they fought against us, they will not defeat us. Accordingly, realizing that the stakes are extremely high and their dishonest money-making schemes are under real threat, they will resort to other, even more nefarious methods. What I’m talking about:

1. After realizing that attempts to distort history and accuse me of something from the past are frankly unsuccessful, they will try to fabricate something in the present. For this, they will use provocations and deep fakes and setups. As you remember, there was already one such attempt for creating a deepfake.

2. After realizing that neither me nor any of the members of the BLACKLIST.AERO team can be intimidated, they will try to use force in one way or another. As you remember, one of the most odious figures has already promised to ‘order’ me to his shadowy partner. We can be humorous about these death threats, but it's just a beginning. How successful this will be depends on three factors: a) their budget and skills, b) our ability to counter such threats and c) its majesty the Chance.

Believe me, I’m not exaggerating when I talk about the reality of the physical impact scenario. A cornered rat is capable of the most desperate measures. Even their idol can attest to that.

WHAT INSPIRES US

Unexpected decency. There are things in our constant struggle with defaulters that truly inspire us and allow us to look to the future with hope. And the first such phenomenon can be called such a contradictory definition as “decent non-payers”. Yes, do not be surprised! But our practice shows that there are companies that have failed, but are trying to do everything possible to resolve the case. And they do it not only and not so much out of fear of publicity (well, “it didn’t work out”). No. More than once I had to deal with the owners of such companies, who were genuinely uncomfortable with the very situation of default, they did not want to allow it, they could not bear the very thought that they were in the same company with the personalities you know. And it was enough to help them a little, and they found a solution! And they did it very nobly at times.

Later, such people often become our associates. And their support at the moment is much more sincere and honest. Because they saw how it works. They saw our motivation, being as it were “on the other side of the barricades”. They saw that we are not trying to take advantage of someone’s difficult situation for execution. On the contrary, our goal is to return such companies to a healthy life in business. And such an approach impresses them.

Fresh blood in companies. Another important point is the global change of generations in the management of companies. And this is already a fact that cannot be ignored. Management in many companies is getting younger, and along with the managers, the way companies operate is changing.

The owners of aviation businesses are handing the company over to their children, you can increasingly see such examples in your practice. Most often, this happens after the heir received a good education, then went through many years of practice in the company, starting from the bottom. I saw how business owners raised their successors for years, how these young people mastered the aviation world. And I know what’s on their minds.

First, these people are much more rational than their fathers. And first of all, this rationality affects the fact that with their arrival, companies are becoming more and more technological. And they prefer to work not with those who is among their “friends”, but with those who is more effective and who shares their values.

Secondly, these people, on the one hand, do not have sentimental qualities of their parents, and on the other hand, they have their own ideals, their own human and professional code. And when they become in charge of companies, at first, of course, they still seek approval from their fathers. If the dad says that this or that person is good or bad (“you should work with him, son, he is my friend, I have known him for a long time” or “you don’t need to work with him, he is bad”) for them it will certainly matter. At the first stage, when they take over the reins.

But now we will witness how these relatively young (30-40 years old) people already bring their own vision to the work of their companies. And they are increasingly paying attention to whether this or that process within the company, this or that cooperation with another company, meets their ideals and values. The influence of these young leaders gradually begins to grow, and soon you will see it for sure.

As one of these young company executives told me regarding one of the most prominent personality in our cases: “Artem, we have to work with this bastard for now. But believe me, it will end soon. There will be no more such bullshit.”

We at BLACKLIST.AERO focus on such leaders. And regardless of age. I see that businessmen of the older generation who are tired of all this dirt that has spread over the aviation market are ready to support such young leaders. They still feel the power to change the situation and are often ready to start over. This is a complicated process, but the strongest can do it.

TO WHOM WE ARE GRATEFUL

We are very grateful to all our subscribers, who are becoming more and more. I know, dear subscribers, that for you a Standard or Premium account in BLACKLIST.AERO is not only an opportunity to implement permanent compliance of your clients, but also a form of support for our work. Even those who do not need to check clients and track their status in BLACKLIST.AERO sign up as a kind of donation to our team. And we are very grateful to you for this. Because such a form of support from you allows us to do our work more and more qualitatively, drill deeper and dig to the truth.

INSTEAD OF AFTERWORDS

Dear friends, as I said earlier, the main battle is just beginning. In the next two-three years, we will continue to exchange more and more painful blows with our opponents. Not because we crave it, just give us someone to “wipe out”. We are not as bloodthirsty as some people think. But both we and those who decided to defend their “right to shoot” understand - only one should remain - either BLACKLIST.AERO, or the virtual International Aviation Association of Non-Payers and Fraudsters. We have a completely different mental and cultural code with them. And depending on who wins, the rules of behavior in the aviation market will depend not only on the coming years, but also on the decades.

Therefore, dear readers, each of you has a choice: either watch this struggle with trepidation, from afar, thereby actually condoning it and becoming their silent accomplices. Or understand that “Professional solidarity” is not an empty word, not just a beautiful appeal. This is a completely rational and the simplest solution to such a huge problem as non-payment and fraud in the aviation market.

Don’t be carrion-eating hyenas. Do not cooperate with those who is deceiving your colleagues in the field! Even if they cheated your direct competitor - it doesn’t matter! Principles are more important!

You just need to understand that the solution to the problem depends on each of you.

You just need to accept that BLACKLIST.AERO is YOU.