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.


Tourism Observer

RUSSIA: Pobeda Goes To Pulkovo Airport

Aeroflot low-cost subsidiary Pobeda Airline plans to launch three new international routes from St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport in October, the airport said.

The carrier starts 3X-weekly Milan Bergamo service Oct. 11; 4X-weekly London Stansted service Oct. 12; and daily Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen service Oct. 28.

The Moscow Vnukovo-based airline will compete on the St. Petersburg-London route with another Aeroflot subsidiary, Rossiya Airlines, which operates flights to Gatwick, and British Airways, flying to Heathrow.

On the Istanbul route, Pobeda will compete with Rossiya and Turkish Airlines, which are connecting Pulkovo with Istanbul Atatürk Airport.

Pobeda launched flights from Pulkovo in October 2015.

During the first seven months of 2018, the airline carried 577,000 passengers from Pulkovo, up 136% year-over-year (YOY).

The airline’s St. Petersburg network included 11 domestic and five international destinations in the IATA 2018 summer season.

Moscow Domodedovo-based S7 Airlines, the second biggest carrier in Russia after Aeroflot Group, also boosts a network from St. Petersburg.


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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

KAZAKHSTAN: SCAT Airlines Migrating Moscow Flights To Vnukovo

Kazakhstan’s SCAT Airlines is in the process of switching the destination airport for its three Moscow services from Domodedovo to Vnukovo. The carrier performed its first flight into Vnukovo from Aktobe on September 6. By October 29, it will have similarly changed the Moscow destination for its other two routes, from Shymkent and Aktau.

This is our 20th year in operation, and we are currently working to develop our route network,SCAT Vice-President Marketing Alexandra Sytnik said.

At the current stage, we find that Vnukovo offers convenient maintenance options, an appealing price policy, and a chance of concluding agreements with other airlines.

We have also received multiple requests from passengers to transfer to Vnukovo, which is located closer to the city and offers connection flights that are interesting to them.

Sytnik added that moving to Vnukovo should help the carrier keep its current prices despite the weaking Kazakhstani currency.

SCAT is the first Kazakh airline to launch flights to Vnukovo.

The Russian capital city is a key destination for the airline, which expects traffic on its Moscow routes to grow further.

In the first seven months of 2017 the figure stood at 33,800 passengers. up 16.5% year-on-year.

The carrier also plans to develop its route network through interline, code-sharing, and special prorate agreements.

We believe that Vnukovo will help us with this, Sytnik announced at the inauguration news conference for the Aktobe-Moscow route.

We will thus offer a great network of connection flights to Kazakh citizens, whereas Russian citizens will avail of our domestic route network, which is the most extensive in Kazakhstan.

This will give travelers the possibility to reach the farther corners of our country.

Sytnik said that SCAT is currently negotiating a possible interline and special prorate agreement, complete with full baggage transfer, with Russia’s UTair Aviation.

The latter uses Vnukovo as one of its bases, and performs about 160 flights per day from there.

SCAT Airlines currently operates 45 domestic and 22 international routes.

Its international destinations are in CIS countries and Georgia, as well as in China and Turkey.

The airline offers routes to several Russian cities other than Moscow, including Astrakhan, Krasnodar, Sochi, Makhachkala, Mineralnye Vody, and Kazan.

At present, SCAT is not allowed to operate flights between Moscow and Kazakhstan’s two largest cities, Astana and Almaty: the current intergovernmental agreements permits the two countries to designate only one operator each for these routes.

For the same reasons, Sytnik said the carrier cannot fly from Astana to Zhukovsky, another airport serving Moscow.

The airline believes that Zhukovsky offers great potential for cargo transportation.

The carrier is considering launching flights to Russia’s Orenburg, Chelyabinsk and St. Petersburg, and might relaunch operations to Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Tomsk.



Tourism Observer

KAZAKHSTAN: SCAT Airlines Switching Destination Airport From Domodedovo To Vnukovo

Kazakhstan’s SCAT Airlines is in the process of switching the destination airport for its three Moscow services from Domodedovo to Vnukovo. The carrier performed its first flight into Vnukovo from Aktobe on September 6. By October 29, it will have similarly changed the Moscow destination for its other two routes, from Shymkent and Aktau.

This is our 20th year in operation, and we are currently working to develop our route network, SCAT Vice-President Marketing Alexandra Sytnik said. At the current stage, we find that Vnukovo offers convenient maintenance options, an appealing price policy, and a chance of concluding agreements with other airlines.

We have also received multiple requests from passengers to transfer to Vnukovo, which is located closer to the city and offers connection flights that are interesting to them.

Sytnik added that moving to Vnukovo should help the carrier keep its current prices despite the weaking Kazakhstani currency.

SCAT is the first Kazakh airline to launch flights to Vnukovo. The Russian capital city is a key destination for the airline, which expects traffic on its Moscow routes to grow further. In the first seven months of 2017 the figure stood at 33,800 passengers. up 16.5% year-on-year.

The carrier also plans to develop its route network through interline, code-sharing, and special prorate agreements.

We believe that Vnukovo will help us with this, Sytnik announced at the inauguration news conference for the Aktobe-Moscow route.

We will thus offer a great network of connection flights to Kazakh citizens, whereas Russian citizens will avail of our domestic route network, which is the most extensive in Kazakhstan.

This will give travelers the possibility to reach the farther corners of our country.

Sytnik said that SCAT is currently negotiating a possible interline and special prorate agreement, complete with full baggage transfer, with Russia’s UTair Aviation.

The latter uses Vnukovo as one of its bases, and performs about 160 flights per day from there.

SCAT Airlines currently operates 45 domestic and 22 international routes.

Its international destinations are in CIS countries and Georgia, as well as in China and Turkey.

The airline offers routes to several Russian cities other than Moscow, including Astrakhan, Krasnodar, Sochi, Makhachkala, Mineralnye Vody, and Kazan.

At present, SCAT is not allowed to operate flights between Moscow and Kazakhstan’s two largest cities, Astana and Almaty: the current intergovernmental agreements permits the two countries to designate only one operator each for these routes.

For the same reasons, Sytnik said the carrier cannot fly from Astana to Zhukovsky, another airport serving Moscow.

The airline believes that Zhukovsky offers great potential for cargo transportation.

The carrier is considering launching flights to Russia’s Orenburg, Chelyabinsk and St. Petersburg, and might relaunch operations to Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, and Tomsk.


Tourism Observer