Industry Focus
Aviation
S7 Airlines officially became a member of the Oneworld Airlines Alliance on 15th November. The Alliance includes 11 more airlines including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair and Qantas. S7 was nominated for membership of the Alliance by British Airways who supported the Russian company through an ardent 18 month entry programme. The inclusion of S7 expands the Alliance's network to 750 routes in 150 countries.
Blue Bird Airways – launches flights from Domodedovo to Greece
Greek charter airline Blue Bird Airways has started operating regular flights by MD-83 from Domodedovo to the Greek Islands Rodos and Corfu, as well as to its base at Heraklion airport on Crete and Thessaloniki in northern Greece.
Blue Bird Airways was established in 2008 and operates both charter and scheduled flights.
Moscow Domodedovo Airport is the largest airport of Russia. Its market share in total passenger traffic in Moscow makes 46%. At the moment 74 partner airlines (46 foreign including 11 representing the CIS States and 28 Russian) connecting over 223 destinations operate flights all over the world. The unique route network covered by Domodedovo partner airlines provides for 91 exclusive destinations. In 2009 18,7 million passengers benefited from Domodedovo services.
Want to get your team quickly to an obscure town for a business meeting? When scheduled airlines don’t fly there don’t worry. If your destination is under 2,000 kms from Moscow Nizhny Novgorod, Izhevsk, Samara or Perm and a Dexter Air Taxi is standing on the tarmac, then all you need is a an hour’s notice and with a few minutes check in and boarding procedure you are on your way.
SuperJet International sold 20 SuperJet 100 aircraft to an undisclosed European customer at the UK Farnborough Air show for approximately $600 million. “We are honored to have this order by a renowned customer,” said Alessandro Franzoni, CEO of SuperJet International. “Our customer strongly believes in the 100 seats aircraft.” SuperJet International and AMA Asset Management Advisors (Suisse) also inked a deal for 5 new SuperJet 100 aircraft for approximately $150 million. The aircraft will be delivered in 2011. SuperJet International, based in Venice, Italy, is a joint venture between Finmecannica’s Alenia Aeronautica (51%) and Sukhoi Holding (49%), is in charge of marketing, sales, customization and delivery of the Sukhoi SuperJet 100 regional jet.
This year is the 85th anniversary of the establishment of Russian civil aviation and the founding of Aeroflot. The two are intertwined as Mr Valery Okulov, the head of Aeroflot, Russian Airlines makes clear in the following article. The role of Aeroflot has changed over the years. From being a generic name covering the myriad civil aviation operations across the former Soviet Union with local airports, air traffic control and civilian flights all controlled on regional basis across more than 300 administrations in the former Soviet Union it is now a partly privately owned flag carrier of Russia.
As from April 1st, 2008 Lufthana becomes the latest major airline to relocate its Moscow operations from Sheremetyevo ( SVO ) to Domodedovo Airport ( DME ).
The services to and from Domodedovo will be available in all computer reservation systems (CRS) and on www.lufthansa.com. All existing reservations will be automatically amended.
Central Volga region’s most promising, and biggest airport, serving over 11 million people, mostly in Povolzhye Federal district is located a good 50 kilometers equidistant from both Samara and Togliatti and is one of ten leading airports of Russia. Its importance far outweighs and supersedes the connectivity it offers for the region. It is a remarkable achievement, one not to be looked askance at, that Kurumoch Airport won the Regional Competition , “Best People and Enterprises of Samara Region”, for two years in succession, 2006 and 2007. It is a showpiece of the transparency and the entrepreneurial abilities inherent in the denizens of the Samara region.
On 26th September last year Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Corporation announced “Komsomomolsk-on- Amur hosted the rollout of the first Sukhoi Superjet 100 ready to fly”. To hundreds of well wishers, first Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov and Russian and international press Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogosyan, implied the aircraft was ready for flight tests and most present expected the plane, touted as the symbol of revival of the Russian civil aviation industry to fly within two months.
Somebody lied, at least by omission.