RUSSIA: Aeroflot Adds More Flights From Sheremetyevo To Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Aeroflot increased the frequency of flights between Moscow and Tashkent.

Starting from 1 September 2018, the airline will operate two additional flights on Mondays and Saturdays on the following schedule:

Flight SU 1872 will depart Sheremetyevo at 7:55, and arrive in Tashkent at 14:05 all times local.

Tashkent- Moscow

Flight SU 1873 will depart Tashkent at 15:35; on Mondays it will arrive at Sheremetyevo at 18:30, on Saturdays it will arrive at Sheremetyevo at 18:15 all times local.

In addition to regular daily flights, the airline is also offering additional flights on Thursdays in its schedule.

This will increase the frequency of flights to the biggest city in Central Asia to two per day on the busiest days of the week.

Additional flights will be operated by high-capacity aircraft from the Boeing 737 family throughout the 2018 summer flight season.


Tourism Observer

RUSSIA: Rossiya Airlines To Commence Flights To Denpasar, Bali, Transfers Some Flights From Vnukovo To Sheremetyevo

Rossiya Airlines will fly on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays to Denpasar, Bali.

The FV6295 flight will be departing from Sheremetyevo at 15:05 and arrive at Bali airport Ngurah Rai on the next day at 08:20 a.m.

The return flight FV6296 will be departing from Denpasar at 10:05 a.m., arriving at 17:05 on Mondays and Thursdays.

The new route will be operated with the modern comfortable aircraft Boeing 777-400 Extended Range, 21 business class seats and 436 economy class seats.

Due to the constant development of the route network, passengers of Rossiya Airlines have the opportunity to choose a place for their holidays among a significant number of countries and cities.

The island of Bali attracts tourists with its pristine landscapes, tropical forests, impressive volcanoes, ancient temples and, of course, endless beaches.

Meanwhile, Rossiya Airlines has officially announced the transfer of some of its flights from its current Moscow base at Vnukovo to Sheremetyevo Airport, home of its parent Aeroflot.

Flights from Sheremetyevo (IATA code SVO) to nine destinations in Rossiya’s network will be operated starting from the IATA winter season (October 28) this year.

All of these flights but one, to Denpasar in Bali, are domestic services. The airline will base 15 of its aircraft at Sheremetyevo – 10 Boeing 777-300s including two which are scheduled to join the fleet before the end of the year and five Boeing 737-800s.

The transfer of some flights to Sheremetyevo is in line with Aeroflot Group’s strategy of which Rossiya is the second largest subsidiary to create a large transit hub.

This partnership with Sheremetyevo will allow for a more efficient operation of the group’s wide route network whilst also offering convenient connections to passengers on domestic routes, Rossiya Airlines explained.

At SVO, Rossiya’s flights will be handled at Terminal D, whereas Aeroflot is gradually shifting its domestic flights from D to the recently launched Terminal B.

One of the likely main reasons for Rossiya’s transfer from Vnukovo is the prospect of synchronising the two airlines’ route networks thereby converting Rossiya into a feeder carrier for Aeroflot.

To accommodate the expected traffic growth and facilitate further development of Aeroflot and its subsidiary, SVO has initiated the construction of a third runway.

Sheremetyevo’s upgraded infrastructure and capacities, including construction of the third runway will provide conditions for efficient service and the long-term expansion of Aeroflot Group, Rossiya added.

In June and July, Rossiya was Vnukovo’s largest passenger traffic generator.

In July Rossiya was responsible for 30.8 per cent of the airport’s total traffic. It carried 745,600 passengers to and from Vnukovo, up 10.4 per cent on the same month last year.


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INDONESIA: Aeroflot Starts Moscow To Denpasar Direct Flights

Aeroflot and Rossiya Airlines are to launch direct flights to Denpasar, the capital of Bali, under a codeshare agreement.

Starting from 28 October 2018, the flights on Boeing 777 aircraft will operate three times weekly on the following schedule:

Moscow-Denpasar all times local:

– flight SU 6295 will depart Sheremetyevo on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 15:05 and arrive in Denpasar at 8:20.

– return flight SU 6296 will depart Denpasar on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 10:05 and arrive at Sheremetyevo at 17:50.

Flights will operate under the winter timetable effective from 28 October 2018 through 30 March 2019.

Ticket sales for the flights have opened.

Denpasar is the largest city on the island of Bali. It is famous for its ancient temples, palaces and museums, and is also the main transit hub for tourists visiting Bali.



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RUSSIA: Pobeda Airlines Opens New Routes

Pobeda launched two new connections on the same day on 2 June, commencing services from Moscow Vnukovo (VKO) to Bordeaux (BOD) and from St.Petersburg (LED) to Girona (GRO).

The former 2,906-kilometre route and the latter 2,733-kilometre link will both be operated twice-weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays with 737-800s.

Neither route faces any direct competition.

The Vnukovo link is the only route Pobeda is currently scheduled to operate to Bordeaux in S18.

It will serve Girona from both Vnukovo and St. Petersburg this summer.

Pobeda has launched a twice-weekly - Thursdays and Sundays link from its main base at Moscow Vnukovo (VKO) to Berlin Tegel (TXL).

The 737-800-operated sector will become the LCC’s fifth destination served from the Russian capital city, adding to its existing flights to Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Cologne Bonn, Leipzig/Halle and Memmingen.

Commenced on 26 April, the 1,590-kilometre sector faces competition from Utair, which flies the route on a daily basis.

Pobeda, the Russian low-cost airline, used the last seven days to launch four new routes, two from its main Moscow Vnukovo (VKO) base, and two from St. Petersburg (LED), its second biggest operation in terms of weekly seats.

The average sector length of the four new city pairs is 1,607 kilometres, with the longest being the 2,235-kilometre route from St. Petersburg to Pisa (PSA).

While the shortest service is the 715-kilometre domestic airport pair from Vnukovo to Ulyanovsk (ULV).

In 2018, Pobeda will continue to expand the geography of its flights from St. Petersburg.

In S18 the airline will start flights to Gyumri (Armenia), Girona (Spain), Tbilisi (Georgia), as well to the Russian cities of Kaliningrad, Nizhnekamsk, and Ulyanovsk.

Pobeda premiered its eighth route from St. Petersburg (LED) on 12 January according to OAG schedules, with the carrier commencing a link from Russia’s second-largest city to Magas (IGT).

The airline will offer a weekly (Fridays) 737-800-operated service on the 2,084-kilometre link, with no other carrier presently flying between the two cities.

Pobeda already has a presence at Magas, with a daily rotation to the southern Russian airport from Moscow Vnukovo.

Pobeda commenced flights from Rostov-on-Don (ROV) to Batumi (BUS) on 26 May.

The 666-kilometre link between the Russian and Georgian cities will be flown by the carrier twice-weekly - Wednesdays and Sundays on the airline’s fleet of 737-800s.

No other airline presently operates flights on this city pair.

Batumi becomes the second destination in Georgia that Pobeda flies to from Rostov-on-Don, with it also serving Tbilisi three times weekly this summer from the Russia airport.

Along with the two routes from Rostov-on-Don, the carrier also flies to the Georgian capital from St. Petersburg twice-weekly this summer.

Pobeda now offers three Italian points on its network and a total of 16 weekly frequencies to the country following the introduction of a three times weekly operation to Venice Treviso (TSF) on 21 February.

The link from its main Moscow Vnukovo (VKO) base will join the LCC’s existing services to Milan Bergamo and Pisa.

The 2,066-kilometre sector is operated by Pobeda’s ubiquitous 737-800 fleet, and faces no direct competition.

Although Aeroflot offers a double-daily service from Moscow Sheremetyevo to Venice Marco Polo, while Ural Airlines flies weekly to the same Venetian gateway from Moscow Domodedovo.

Pobeda introduced flights between Moscow Vnukovo (VKO) and Leipzig/Halle (LEJ) on 16 April, with the latter airport becoming the airline’s fourth destination in Germany after Cologne Bonn, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden and Memmingen.

The airline will operate the 1,706-kilometre route to its newest destination three times weekly using its fleet of 737-800s, with no other carrier presently operating the same airport pair.

Pobeda’s new service is currently the only scheduled route between Russia and the German city.


Tourism Observer

RUSSIA: Nordwind Airlines Wants Two Boeing 777-300ERs

Russian carrier Nordwind Airlines is leasing two Boeing 777-300ER widebody airliners from Dubai-based lessor DAE Capital,part of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise.

The aircraft were previously operated by EVA Air of Taiwan, DAE Capital reports.

To implement its feeder strategy, which covers 200 destinations, in the coming fall-winter season, Nordwind Airlines continues to expand its widebody fleet and is preparing to put two Boeing 777-300s into operation.

The first of the two aircraft is to arrive at the airline’s home base Sheremetyevo on August 31. Following the requisite customs procedures, in early September the airliner will start performing charter flights from Moscow.

The carrier will receive the second aircraft next week.

The two Boeings, to be registered as VP-BJL and VP-BJO, were built in 2005. They will become the first airliners in Nordwind’s fleet to have a three-class cabin layout - 312 seats in total: 38 in business, 63 in premium economy, and 211 in coach.

Nordwind already operates four Boeing 777-200s, which seat 393 passengers in two classes.

The new addition will bring the carrier’s total fleet up to 22 aircraft. It also has Airbus A330-200s, A321s.

Additional four airframes are expected to be delivered by year-end.

Nordwind’s passenger traffic grew 85.4% year-on-year in January-July 2017, reaching 1.598 million; its seat load factor droped by 2.9 percentage points to 86.9%.



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