Excessive legislation and bureacracy are blamed for hampering budding local equivalents of the likes of Easyjet.

The television broadcaster RT reported that "regular air carriers sell even domestic flights at the price of many people’s monthly salary and Russians are craving for the discounters so popular abroad offering flights like eight pounds from Liverpool to Krakow or 20 euros from Oslo to Frankfurt".

Konstantin Teterin, the head of charter airline Red Wings, told RT,"“It’s only possible to make a quasi-low-cost airline, just a budget carrier. We will have one or two but they wont be able to have such extremely cheap tariffs as in Europe or in the States."

Russia's aviation rules were created in Soviet times when some airports served just a couple of planes a day. Analysts say, the government should reform the airspace code if it wants to develop cost effective air travel for the general public. This could pave the way for greater competition in the industry and make flying in Russia less of a luxury for the few.

Russia's flagship air carrier Aeroflot plans to create a budget airline among the six smaller airlines merged with the company in February, the Russian RBC daily said on Friday.

"A discount airline will be created on the basis of six smaller airlines. The state-owned hi-tech corporation Russian Technologies running six carriers, will merge them into Aeroflot, RBC daily has quoted Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Savelyev as saying.

According to Savelyev, the company plans to create different segment carriers, at least one charter airline and a budget carrier. Aeroflot will remain the premium sector carrier.

The newspaper said Aeroflot has not specified which of the companies would become its budget subsidiary, but experts predict Orenburg Airlines may take up the role since irregular flights constitute up to 80% of its entire passenger turnover.

Many large airlines often create discount subsidiaries under a parent company. Germany's Lufthansa has a budget airline, Germanwings, and one the leading U.S. air carriers, Delta, also has the Song budget subsidiary.

Meanwhile Sky Express shareholders, looking to recoup their investment are searching for a buyer with pockets deep enough to reassure regulators to allow it to continue operating. Kommersant newspaper has reported that Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element group is in negotiation with the carrier and that is a deal results, "will allow BasEl to restart its previously unsuccessful project of developing Kuban Airlines, an air carrier based in the Krasnodar Territory in south Russia".